AcmeShorts

06/13/2005 Will Disney: It's works like this that give me such a warm feeling to be part of the AcmeShorts community.

06/13/2005 The Rid: Really, Disney? Hey, what happened to this guy's nipples in the 3rd panel?

06/13/2005 Will Disney: Good question, therid, re: the nipples. Maybe he cut them off and they regrew by panel 4? Or maybe they were blurred to do the motion of the character?

06/13/2005 Litcube (4.5): I laughed out loud at this. Timing is huge here. The pause during panel 2 implies that this dude is deliberate in his actions (which is funny). Preview image is an error.

06/13/2005 The Rid: I kinda like the Klause Muppet preview. More than I like his 'toons, actually.

06/13/2005 Mr. Pony: I'm not sure how I feel about this overall. It's one of those things that either hits you or it doesn't, I think, and once missed, no amount of intellectualizing can bring it back. I will try, however. What stands out most for me here is the almost linguistic reduction of the "use" of the chainsaw. The man does not cut off his hand with the chainsaw, as it would first appear. This would involve significantly more spray, effort, and effort differential (as the saw cuts through flesh and moved on to bone) than is apparent here. Rather, his hand is almost symbolically cut off by the action of a chainsaw-element. This man is made of a single material, "man". The chainsaw has no moving parts, rather; it is an agent of cutting; an abstract force in the story. We are shown nothing here, and in fact, we are told everything What this does is focus our attention completely and totally on the man's intent, and what do we see there, on his face? Bliss. Quiet, absent-minded bliss. He's happy before the act, and he's happy afterward. This coincides perfectly with the effect described above. This is no visceral spectacle. We are watching this man watching himself happily cut off his arm with a chainsaw. Did it actually happen? Does it matter?

06/13/2005 Litcube: He shows you at the end. He'd be saying, "See? Arm's off."

06/13/2005 Mr. Pony: Is he showing us? Or is he becoming a fountain? Is he fountaining?

06/13/2005 The Rid: He might be fountaining.

06/13/2005 The Rid: Author, aside from the nipple thing in panel 3, shouldn't the (nearly) perpendicular line at the top of the arc in panel 3 be on the BOTTOM of the arc, thus illustrating that the "man" (as Pony called him) has swung the chainsaw DOWN and not UP? I mean, the line in panel 2 indicates upward motion, as does the position of the chainsaw, and the position of said chainsaw in panel 3 indicates that the arc should be a downward arc. No?

06/13/2005 Litcube: TheRid has a point here, iThor.

06/13/2005 Litcube: Pony: He's all, "This is what I have done. Look."

06/13/2005 Mr. Pony: Doesn't that little line (in both panels) indicate a pause? A little shorthand for persistence of vision?

06/13/2005 The Rid: Could be, Pony. Could be.

06/13/2005 Jawbreaker (1.5): Ok. I don't know if it's just me but I really don't like this short. I don't think that a graphical short of a man sawing his arm off is the funniest idea. I am appreciating the comments by Pony and Rid but, I dunno, I just don't like it. I mean, it's a so so drawing of a guy cutting his arm off.

06/13/2005 qualcomm: jb's right on here. this doodle would be more at home on a trapper keeper than in acme's hallowed forum.

06/13/2005 qualcomm (1):

06/13/2005 The Rid (1.5): Well, I could nitpick more, but it's just bad. Like Huey Lewis said, sometimes bad is bad.

06/13/2005 Klause Muppet: Preview Image error intentional.
Absent on Preview Image orientation.
Taken creative freedom.

Perpendicular line error unintentional.
Author oops.

06/13/2005 Mr. Pony: I really tried, Klause.

06/14/2005 Klause Muppet: Word.

06/14/2005 Klause Muppet: Nipples and Line fixed. Phew!

06/14/2005 Poop (3.5): Poop!