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New Work by Gary Larson
- jmclnx 1y agoVery nice, I have been checking it for a while and this is the first new one I have seen in a while. Nice cartoon for Jane Goodall!
- bhouston 1y agoFYI, this "New Stuff" is circa 2020: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/arts/far-side-gary-larson-cartoons.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/arts/far-side-gary-larson...
- JimDabell 1y agoIt might’ve started then, but the latest entry is a tribute to Jane Goodall that was posted three days ago: https://www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/363/club-gombe https://www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/363/club-gombe
- chrisweekly 1y agoThis one is my favorite: https://www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/387/house-on-hillside https://www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/387/house-on-hillside
- Physkal 1y agoSorry, I don't get it. whats with the terydactl substance
- stickfigure 1y agoPretty sure it's bird shit.
- iancmceachern 1y agoThis exact chain of interactions is what I come to HN for. When Meat Loaf died, I commented "His name was Robert Paulsen" (you know, because in death membersbof project mayhem do have names, his name was Robert Paulsen". Someone commented something to the effect of no it wasn't, meat loaf wasn't his real name it was Marvin Aday, and then someone else commented to their comment "It's literally a fucking line from the movie". I dont know why these layers of weirdness delight me so, but they do. Thanks for the pterodactyl shit commentary folks.
- bitwize 1y agoWas gonna say, I thought Robert Paulsen was the guy who did Yakko's voice?
- bsimpson 1y agoHis name was also Robert Paulsen.
- MrDrMcCoy 1y agoI posted the same thing on Reddit and got downvoted to hell.
- cwillu 1y agoReddit is turning more into hn everyday.
- Forgeties79 1y agoBetter hope it’s not the other way around!
- firesteelrain 1y agoThis is sort of the inverse “Don’t say HN is becoming Reddit” Reddit has been declining for a long time and even more so the way the algorithm works with the Front Page. Politics and activism there is super amplified
- somat 1y agoThe caption is what really sells it for me. It is the classical farside experience. Looks at comic, (shrugs) it's weird but not funny in any way. Reads caption "Art assignment: Paint a house on a hillside overlooking a bay or valley. Stay loose; play with color. Try to capture a mood. Think of something to add." Literal spit take and laugh. Yep he still has the touch.
- jjkaczor 1y agoHmmm - my interpretation is that this is an example of a "prompt" for a generative AI "artist", and the result was something that "craps" over the original intention of the "house on a hillside"... (so, a bit of a commentary on generative art from someone who was professional cartoonist)
- hobs 1y agoI think you are applying the wrong decade(s) of thought. This is a man who had to clean his pen to use it - it is very likely he is using artists "prompts" to practice his digital art (as he mentions its very new to him), which is something that was normal before the current era.
- jjkaczor 1y agoAh - true true - OTOH, many of my artist (and former) friends absolutely hate AI prompted "art" and post much commentary to that effect. Myself I find it very useful because I have no ability to create art/images on my own - never could. (And the irony of those "feelings" are that this is probably how many managers / BA's/non-technical people feel about prompted "vibe coding")
- chrisweekly 1y agoYes. The word choice is exquisite; "loose" got me, right as I was visually interpreting the scene. Larson is a genius.
- iamwil 1y agoThis is my favorite too. The caption reads like an AI prompt. The last instruction, "think of something to add" resulted in the AI adding a pterodactyl on the house, dropping bird poop on it. Probably not what the prompter meant, but technically correct.
- tristramb 1y agoSame here. My first though was 'This is an AI prompt.'
- hcs 1y agoFor the benefit of me 30 minutes ago baffled by the responses to this down thread, this is perhaps a r/BirdsArentReal thing? e.g. https://old.reddit.com/r/BirdsArentReal/comments/1n1yr3d/what_is_this_substance_leaking_out/ https://old.reddit.com/r/BirdsArentReal/comments/1n1yr3d/wha...
- firesteelrain 1y agoNah, its just absurd Larson humor.
- hcs 1y agoOh I get the Larson humor, I mean Physkal's comment and iancollmceachern's implication that a reference was missed by stickfigure
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- quuxplusone 1y agoCoincidentally just ran into this anecdote on how Goodall and Larson became friends: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45624718 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45624718
- Forgeties79 1y agoWhat a nice story. “Nice” really feels like the correct word here.
- dotancohen 1y agoWhen Gary started using the digital pad for drawing, he specifically said that he wouldn't be drawing every day, or on any deadline at all. So these comics really are a labour of love. They are meant for Gary to experiment, not make money. At least, that's how he presented it himself.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- bbor 1y agoWow, thank you for posting (you have to click the green "Enter" button, it's not super obvious -- someone needs to have a sit-down with Gary about design conventions! It's also completely un-bookmark-able, as there's no URL leading to the latest comic every day). This one made me laugh out loud for the first time in a while: https://www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/387/house-on-hillside https://www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/387/house-on-hillside He's still got it! EDIT: Ahh, it's very, very small. I was excited by the "387" in the slug, but that seems to be meaningless (?). There's 8 total comics in no clear order, and the caption system is completely broken (it says they were all posted this past Wednesday) :(
- sphars 1y agoBeen meaning to post this but if you're interested, I set up a RSS feed for the daily Far Side comic[0]. It's a simple scraper that runs daily on GitHub actions and creates an entry for the 2-5 comics and captions of the day. Source code is on GitHub.[1] I'll have to look into this new section of the website and see about adding that to the feed. [0]: https://sphars.github.io/rss-feeds/feeds/the_far_side/feed.xml https://sphars.github.io/rss-feeds/feeds/the_far_side/feed.x... [1]: https://github.com/sphars/rss-feeds https://github.com/sphars/rss-feeds
- busyant 1y agoYou should try to incorporate Dennis the Menace in your retrievals. https://www.reddit.com/r/Harmontown/comments/dsfqh7/the_far_side_actually_switched_captions_with/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Harmontown/comments/dsfqh7/the_far_...
- jimniels 1y agoMy first thought on finding this: needs an rss feed! TY
- brookst 1y agoWow. Thanks for making me buy a color e-ink display.
- thebruce87m 1y agoWhich one did you buy?
- brookst 1y agoBought the waveshare spectra 6 13.3”, will be a little project to connect to a spare rpi and pull down this RSS feed.
- sphars 1y agoI'll be curious how you'll do this, having a daily Far Side like the daily paper calendar is a good idea. The only possible issue with my RSS feed is that I lump all the daily comics into one entry. So you could get 2-5 images per day/entry. Essentially what you see on the front page of thefarside.com. I'm not completely sold on my method, so open to suggestions (see above post for the GitHub)
- vikboyechko 1y agoThat’s awesome that he a digital tablet enables him to create more art. I met a comic book artist recently who was drawing nonstop even while signing autographs and talking to fans.
- gyomu 1y agoPeople on here love to dump on the iPad for being a “consumption device”, and to hate on the Apple Pencil by misquoting/misunderstanding Steve Jobs[0]… …but if you spend any time around artists it’s evident that the iPad/Pencil/Procreate trio is one of the most significant leaps in consumer tech for visual artists of the last decade. [0] he never said that any and all styluses are bad - he said that 1) cell phones that 2) you can only interact with by using a stylus (not an uncommon paradigm back in 2007) were bad
- vikboyechko 1y agoYep totally, Procreate on an iPad with a paper-like screen protector and a Pencil is an amazing creative juicer.
- fwipsy 1y agoWhat puts it ahead of the Wacom/Surface drawing tablets which have been around for much longer? I'm not sure if I'd describe it as a leap if it's refining existing products.
- gyomu 1y agoAs always, Apple didn't wholesale invent a product category, but they made the first product that synthesized all the right tradeoffs in a sufficiently compelling package that enabled them to sell tens/hundreds of millions of units fairly quickly[0]. - hardware quality wise, already the 1st gen Apple Pencil had the specs of the higher end tablets (12-bit pressure sensitivity, orientation, azimuth, all in a sleek package) - you can use your iPad for a bunch of other stuff too, and it's super portable - whereas for the high end tethered drawing tablets, they're pretty single purpose, and they take up a bunch of space on your desk. This all matters to broke artists living in dorm rooms/tiny apartments. - the Procreate team designed a tool that was really focused on the digital drawing experience and managed to make a high quality, affordable product out of it. The standard for digital drawing on those tethered tablets is mostly Photoshop, which a) is meant for tons of stuff beyond drawing, making it quite complex and b) has 4 decades of interface cruft piled up at this point. Honestly yeah, there truly are pre/post iPad+Pencil eras in consumer tech for anyone doing work that involves hand illustration/sketching. [0] whereas their competitors struggle to sell low numbers of units at terrible margins
- somat 1y agoIt is interesting to note the changes in style from his newspaper comic. I assume it is the result of drawing for yourself and being able to take the time to draw it how you want rather than a 7 comic a week deadline syndicated strip.
- bombcar 1y agoI think he's also directly implementing color, if you see color "original Far Side" it was added post-hock usually (though maybe some color Sunday strips exist colored by Larson).
- normie3000 1y agoIt might be explained by the long explanation on the linked page - these new cartoons are drawn on computer with a graphics tablet, whereas the old ones were pen and ink.
- mcv 1y agoThere are multiple reasons for a different style, but U think a big one is that a syndicated cartoon is expected to have a recognisable style. We recognise many cartoonists by their unique style, despite many of them being far more versatile artists than that.
- akoboldfrying 1y agoNo one is able to capture stupidity on a person's (or cow's, or chicken's) face quite like Gary Larson.
- IAmBroom 1y agoAgain, I must bring up The Neighborhood. Jerry is seriously underloved as a comic artist.
- Waterluvian 1y agoI think it’s about time for me to confess: I really don’t get Gary Larson cartoons. I understand what each is about, but my amusement level doesn’t correlate with their popularity. It’s a slightly odd, somewhat lonely feeling to see something so universally beloved and popular and feel nothing.
- dfedbeef 1y agoI don't think they are universally beloved or popular if that makes you any feel better.
- dfedbeef 1y agoThey're popular in the way that the Dinosaurs show on ABC was popular.
- mk_stjames 1y ago'Dinosaurs' was a masterpiece and I won't hear otherwise. The series finale is one of the greatest T.V. finales of all time.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- dfedbeef 1y agoI was like 5 when it was on, so all I remember is ads of these nightmare-fuel puppets running throughout the day. I do wish there were more puppet based prime time shows now.
- fknorangesite 1y agoNo, the Far Side was popular the way The Simpsons was popular. I think you're dramatically underestimating how big it was during its run.
- mk_stjames 1y ago
- WalterBright 1y agoIf you like Gary Larson, check out Gahan Wilson, who has a very similar sense of humor. https://www.kensandersbooks.com/pages/books/59859/gahan-wilson/playboys-gahan-wilson https://www.kensandersbooks.com/pages/books/59859/gahan-wils...
- aaronrobinson 1y agoThe one with the pilots announcing turbulence ahead…
- Mistletoe 1y agoThis was such a better experience on mobile. I had first tried on my MacBook and it was inscrutable.
- BAPHOMETA88F 1y agoI had a client once in the 90's when Olive Garden was the first wave of consumer Italian spots to serve specials. After we ordered our entrees the waiter left one of those coloring labyrinths. Well, I couldn't tell at the start of the sketch that it resembled a mandala. As a comic book artist, his studies in a parapsychology were in the practice of comic strips. Gary's work reminds me of that afternoon.
- thom 1y agoThe Far Side is like the Simpsons for me, many of the jokes have passed into everyday expressions. If I or my wife are on the loo when the other comes in, we’ll always quote one of my favourites: https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/the-far-side-duck-professor-jenkins.jpg https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/...
- ck45 1y agoI've never seen it that way, but I think you are absolutely right. My favorite always has been https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFarSide/comments/179ikr2/its_a_fax_from_your_dog/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFarSide/comments/179ikr2/its_a_f...
- GaryBluto 1y agoWe frequently say "Midvale School for the Gifted" whenever any of us try to push a pull door.
- myself248 1y agoTrouble Brewing...
- klondike_klive 1y agoMy 7 year old just referenced that gag today. Proud dad.
- russfink 1y agoRealizing the lions’ taste for red meat, the Spamalopes remained calm, but wary.
- JimDabell 1y ago> many of the jokes have passed into everyday expressions. Not to mention palæontology! https://unapologeticnerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/thagomizer.jpg https://unapologeticnerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/thag... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer
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- sph 1y agoI should really start to read the Far Side comic... I've heard about it for the first time, along with Heathcliff and Pants, on the latest Solar Sands video "The Surreal Worlds of Single Panel Comics": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4npsyTE-m_k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4npsyTE-m_k
- mikkupikku 1y agoThese are great, he's still "got it".
- giardini 1y agoThis is great! Periodically, I'll go through one of Larson's cartoon books, laughing all the way. It's like housecleaning for my brain - afterwards everything is spic-and-span and in it's proper place. The first Gary Larson cartoon I ever saw was "Freeze...OK now...who's the brains in this outfit?". When I saw it I had to see more: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/c4/c4/75/c4c475c0a2fdc310a34c20722376d1a1--far-side-cartoons-far-side-comics.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/736x/c4/c4/75/c4c475c0a2fdc310a34c20722...
- gcanyon 1y agoYou might appreciate this The Way of the Gun quote: Joe Sarno: So, you the brains of this outfit, or is he? Longbaugh: Tell ya the truth, I don't think this is a brains kind of operation.
- RyanOD 1y agoFantastic! I check this periodically, hoping for anything new from Mr. Larson. Love that he took the time to honor Ms. Goodall one more time. What a class act.
- nativeit 1y agoI had a teacher in high school, Mr. Miller, he taught the history half of World Humanities. On the first day of school, he passed out a Far Side comic he'd printed off to everyone, and said confidently that if we did not find that cartoon funny, we would almost certainly fail his class. He proceeded to teach the entire recorded history of human civilization over the course of a year with highly animated, almost shouted lectures, where he would get so enthused about what he was talking about that he'd frequently explode the chalk on the board trying to write as fast as he spoke. Not once through the entire year did he even glance at the textbook or his own notes. I didn't do well in high school, generally speaking, I skipped a lot and had little appetite for doing homework. But I did really well in his class. The Far Side is fucking funny.
- xp84 1y agoDamn, that must have been an incredible class. An instructor who is so in love with his subject matter is the most wonderful thing that a student can encounter in school.