On The Amazing Digital Circus Coming to Netflix

It looks like it’s shaping up to be the year of web animation going mainstream, folks. After a certain Edgy Demon Show delighted millions of chronically online teenagers by coming to Amazon Prime with backing from A24, we now have Glitch Productions’ viral hit The Amazing Digital Circus coming to Netflix next month, around a year after its first episode premiered on YouTube. Wow, has it already been that long? Crazy.

Now, those who know me know that I am a great appreciator of Internet animation. I love me a good Homestar Runner or asdfmovie. The original Eddsworld run is darn good entertainment when it applied itself. The Newgrounds era and everything that surrounded it led to a real crop of super creative people finding their voice, and the field of animation is all the better for it. In a nutshell, I like me a good web cartoon.

 

I do not, however, like The Amazing Digital Circus.

 

I tried. I really did. While it is not lacking in interesting ideas and visual creativity, its writing reeks of too much time spent on Tumblr and its attempts to be spooky almost never work. I couldn’t even finish the pilot. There is clearly a lot of talent behind the scenes, but unless it can leave behind the quirkfest dialogue, it’ll never be my cup of tea.

The extent to which the series is rooted in Internet culture is going to be a big obstacle for it. As best as I can tell, the point of TADC coming to Netflix is to bring it to people who have little interest in YouTube and only watch traditional media. I can’t help but feel like this is a miscalculation based on the assumption that the series’ YouTube origins are its sole hinderance to mainstream acceptance. The fact is, if you don't already know what The Amazing Digital Circus is, you're not going to enjoy it. It's made for people who like their sentences all-lowercase and without punctuation. Given this, I genuinely cannot help but feel that this isn't a bet that's going to pay off for either Glitch or Netflix.

That being said, I am happy about this, if only because it proves that the system works. It proves that there's still a way to start on the Internet and go mainstream. And it's not just TADC either. Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, two veterans of the web animation scene, created Smiling Friends, quite possibly one of the funniest shows on TV right now, and have made a ton of money off of it. I don't think this success touches everyone equally (in a perfect world The Brothers Chaps would have an Emmy by now), but it's a reason for the web animators of today to be hopeful.

I know this isn't a very thoughtful post, or a very well-written and well-edited one, but this is a big occurrence in the field of Internet animation, so I thought I should give my two cents on it. And who knows, I may be wrong and bringing TADC to Netflix will cause it to be the biggest show on Earth. I really don't know. But all in all, it's an exciting time for this topic.

Limozeen Archive'd N' Live'd

Now feels like a good time to let all of you know that The Brothers Chaps, creative geniuses and creators of the all-time great web series Homestar Runner, have released an hour-long compilation album of songs by the in-universe hair metal band Limozeen, including songs that have been on the series, never-before-released gems, and even newly remastered audio from a 2008 live performance by the Chaps as Limozeen, a performance previously only available in crunchy YouTube clips. Check out the difference between the old one and the new one. Hot dang, that's crisp. It helps that the Limozeen songs represent the Chaps at their musical best. "Because It's Midnite" is honestly a super good song.

The new album, Archive'd n' Live'd, is essentially The Complete Limozeen, as far as I believe. It was released recently alongside a new Limozeen song and music video (maybe the first since the Chaps' 2009-2014 hiatus from the series), which is very nice to see. I'm always happy whenever there's new Homestar stuff.

The album can be listened to on all of the major streaming services. You'd better listen to it, too. I need the Brothers Chaps to keep making this stuff or else I may die.

The General

For my film class today, I had to attend a screening of Buster Keaton's The General. It was a great time, the film remains a stone-cold classic, and it was so much fun to see it with an audience that was beside themselves with laughter throughout the movie. However, there was a problem.

This was my second time seeing The General, the last time being when I streamed Kino Lorber's excellent restoration of the film on Kanopy. However, the version we were watching (on the big screen, no less) was a very poorly-made DVD, sourced from a severely degraded print, with the film's distinctive score stripped away and replaced with royalty-free alternatives. It left the tone of certain scenes feeling confused and disjointed, and worse, the music often got repetitive and wore on the ears.

I had an enormous amount of fun revisiting the movie, but it showed a larger problem with most releases of public domain films.

When a film falls into the public domain, it's given a new shot at life. However, they are also given to anyone who wants to sell them, people who don't care about giving the optimal viewing experience. Many DVDs of older silent films are simply low-quality scans with no attempt to enhance them whatsoever. Even worse, often the music in these films is still copyrighted as well, meaning that an integral part of the experience is lost and replaced with whatever the publisher didn't have to pay for. It's a way to watch the movie, sure, but you're not getting the right experience.

What I recommend to anyone wanting to watch a public domain film is this: seek out versions from reputable publishers like Kino Lorber and the Criterion Collection. They put so much care into restoring the picture quality, and often work to either re-record the original theatrical scores or create new ones that accurately capture the tone and style of the originals. They really are the best way to experience any public domain film. Even if it seems ridiculous to pay for something you could be getting for free, trust me. It's worth it.

That Was Good

Watching last night's debate after suffering through lingering memories of the previous one was like getting a bite of a fine aged gouda after living entirely off of Cheez Whiz for a month. Or at least so I imagine, because I have never had a fine aged gouda. I have, however, had the experience of going from the feeling that our country is completely and totally screwed to having something resembling optimism. And boy oh boy, does it taste good.

Let's talk about the best part of the debate: Kamala Harris's performance. Folks, I have not been watching presidential debates for many years, but of the ones I have seen, her performance may be the best. She trained and it shows. She knew when to counter Trump's excessive confidence with a "get a load of this guy" smugness, but refused to let that define her performance. Equally impressive were her many moments of passion and confidence, the kind of moments that make you realize that she isn't the faceless Biden plant Trump makes her out to be. This honest passion was also a great way of getting into Trump's head, because the only counter he offered to that passion was the kind of crotchety bitterness we all expect from him by now.

It was definitely a significant part of Harris's plan to play mind games with Trump, and it worked. After an hour of being forced to stand up to someone who is mentally sharp, he crapped his pants. He was agitated and couldn't string together a coherent sentence. The entire time, he looked like he was on the verge of dropping some slurs. Biden, in the last debate, seemed to be feebly scratching at Trump. Harris took a hammer and broke him right open. It's refreshing to see how insane he sounds next to someone who is making sense.

Trump, by contrast, was Trump. He repeated some staggering false claims, dodged every difficult question thrown his way, and made his backwards views on many subjects painfully clear. He spouted off on more of his fake "post-birth abortion" stuff, went on a bunch of unhinged tangents, and bought into Harris's Trump-specific rage bait hard. He gave a terrible performance. I personally don't think it was worse than his last, it's just more noticeable now because he no longer has the advantage of debating someone older than him.

Really, all in all, it was a good debate. My vote for Harris is more secure than ever.

Sorry for the short post, I could go into it deeper, but I am very tired and it is very late.

Dee-bate

"Dee-bate. You know if you think about it, that's a funny word. Dee-bate."

You're gonna need the Smiling Friends clip, folks, because once again, it's debate night.

Now, I don't think I need to recap what has happened since the last debate that makes this one such an unpredictable wildcard of an event. It's been like living in an "Oops, all tragedy!" episode of The West Wing. That was, at least, until Harris stepped in to run in Biden's place, and even then, we can't get too comfortable. As good as her poll numbers are now, remember what happened with Hillary Clinton. Now is not the time to get cocky. As we have been shown, the entire political landscape in this country can change dramatically in a manner of seconds. All it takes is one turn of the head.

This debate is gonna be pretty huge. We're going to see Donald Trump, fresh off an assassination attempt and undoubtedly keen to milk that for it's worth, face off against one of his sworn enemies, Kamala Harris (who is a relatively young Democratic woman of color, attributes that are winning her no favor in the sight of the former president). Donald Trump won't be playing on easy mode. He won't be able to score points for being able to put together a natural-sounding sentence about how ninety percent of babies are aborted two weeks after birth or whatever. He is now the old man in the room. Plus, let's not forget his history of being enormously unfiltered. I can't be the only one morbidly intrigued about the thought of the old racist/misogynist having a 1950s moment onstage.

This debate, of course, is a big test for Harris. So much of her campaign thus far has been built on vibes and vibes alone, and that may well be a good strategy. Vibes are going to contribute enormously to who wins this election. But Harris needs to prove that she can not just counter Trump's vibes, but offer a viable counter to his policy and vision for America as well. I have confidence that she can do this. Let us not forget that Trump's policy and vision for America revolves around getting revenge on people he feels has wronged him, allowing the people who tried to overthrow the government to walk free, and cozying up to Vladimir Putin. I've stepped on better policies than that.

It's gonna be a big night. I'll be watching attentively and preparing my thoughts for the post-mortem post that I'll probably post tomorrow (let's throw in one more "post" for good measure).

Hatchette

The Internet Archive lost the appeal.

I don't know where we go at this point. For now, it seems like the Archive is safe. But if it goes down as a result of this, never let Hatchette forget that they essentially burned down a library.