theres a joke online that "KOTH is a slice of life anime". this intuits something true about the show. the inspiration for king of the hill was 'do the right thing' by spike lee, specifically the way in which that film depicts daily life in a specific neighborhood and place:
its filed as a comedy because it happens to be funny, but its not "a comedy" like the simpsons.
this misunderstanding about its nature extended even to the network that aired it. early in its launch FOX tied it into nascar cross promotions. i believe this is an image from one:
on the surface, this makes sense. this is like the simpsons, but about texas. so people that watch nascar will like it.
but, they really didnt. because thats not what it is. as stupid as it sounds, its actually just an artistic depiction of a place and time:
likewise, its not really a sitcom either.
if you watch the early seasons, lots of things happen that never reset or get resolved. for example, buckley dies (and returns as an angel) (swedenborg moment btw). after that, he's just dead. theres a lot of things like that.
this was so antithetical to the nature of a sitcom and network TV programming that the network asked them to stop doing stuff like this, because it got too confusing when they re-aired the episodes out of order.
so, it became a sitcom. but thats also not what it is, internally.
part of why the show is interesting is because it could really only be made at that time. i was working with a guy once, and he asked me about shows i like, so i mentioned KOTH, and he said
i just don't get it. is it supposed to be funny?
thats the point. yes, but incidentally
sidenote: i drew this many years ago and then was mentioned by name on a two hour long king of the hill podcast (check my credentials)
i enjoy posting
not making any strictly political assertions about the shows conclusions but may drop some relevant lore if it comes up
in the 1977 film ‘wizards’, one of the oddest movies ive seen, the earth is split between two opposing forces: one side uses technology, and one side has forbidden technology and instead uses magic. i thought this was an interesting lens to view the present AI discussion through.
the term “magic” gained its present english meaning at a time when our society was entirely religious. so, obviously, socially dominant religion with its hierarchy, history, and institutions used the term magic to denote what was outside it: witches, the occult, and such things.
however, we no longer live in that world. today, if we remove the baggage from the word magic, we have to be slightly honest and admit that talking to superhuman beings, items with supraphysical holy influence, casting out demons - this is all “magical”, as opposed to scientific.
jordan peterson’s ’clean up your room’ became a huge joke but no one ever mentioned that his second step was to try to make the room beautiful, because that involves committing to something, putting yourself out there, and engaging with beauty on your own terms as an individual.
to make an aesthetic statement in the form of creating something, like decorating a room, is to engage with the fear the above person describes. because you have nowhere to hide. someone is going to come to your room and say, “you picked that painting?”, and, you did. thats it.
really as much as im not a devotee of the guy the whole set up was pretty good. because once you make something beautiful, its like cleaning one thing in a dirty room. everything else that isn’t beautiful suddenly stands out as extremely not beautiful, then you have to fix that.
a long time ago i was reading this on the subway. old guy taps me. i take my headphones off. he says, "whats that book?". i say "its... a history of magic". he says, "does he say magic comes from God?". i said "uh... yeah, actually". he says "good." then just stood there quietly
this happened at the utica avenue subway station in crown heights which i frequented for some time. a few other interesting things happened there. once another guy started talking to me. he was black, and told me he had been privately studying with a rabbi for like a decade
...
apparently he was privately studying history and judaism with a rabbi, alone, and the rabbi had selected him for this process. i asked a lot of questions and the guy did not seem insane, and seemed to know some things that validated his story, but, i could not make sense of it.
the movie ‘jesus camp’ is the movie i’ve watched the most in my life. in a way, that makes it my favorite movie. at this point, i’ve probably seen it hundreds of times. there are times working at my desk where i’d put it on every day. admittedly, bizarre behavior. so, why?
[…]
if youre unfamiliar, the film documents a bunch of kids who are taken to an evangelical / charismatic summer camp. it’s meant to portray them as somewhat extreme: a small window into this dark undercurrent of american religious life, where kids are … brainwashed, basically.
i think this movie has followed me around for most of my life because ive seen it from every perspective. initially, i was teenager atheist who had the perspective of the film: that this was all basically evil
later i turned my back on that perspective entirely, and saw it again
one of my favorite stories about america is from a guy who moved to west virginia to be a pastor. someone organized a garbage truck route to come through an extremely rural neighborhood, at a time when this cost some money. a nominal fee was passed over to the residents.
[…]
it was a trivial amount of money, but the residents there were so incensed that someone would do this without asking them and then stick them with the bill that they stopped doing anything at all with their trash, and just threw it outside until the plan was called off.
[…]
later, this pastor, who was there for this, wanted to pave the road leading up to their also extremely rural church. wanting to avoid any conflict, he called a meeting and laid out his plan: a truck will come, and dump gravel along the now dirt road, at minimal cost.