Daily Archives: February 15, 2026

Top Tens – Poetry & Literature: Top 10 Literature

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Limestone tablet from Sumer with pictographic writing; may be the earliest known writing, 3500 BC. Ashmolean Museum – a real page-turner

 

 

TOP 10 LITERATURE 

 

Exactly what it says on the tin – counting down my Top 10 Literature, by author and literary work.

Or not, since my preference in literature tends towards fantasy and comedy. Sure, I read conventional or traditional literature, but my true taste consists of literature that is really just fantasy (including SF) or comedy – or both.

But what is literature?

By its widest definition, literature is any written work but this top ten follows the narrower definition of written fiction or “writing considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays and poems”. After all, I have my separate top ten lists for books in mythology, history, and philosophy or science.

 

POETRY & OTHER

 

And as usual, I make my own rules and break them anyway. I also have my Top 10 Poetry, so I tend to rank poetic literature there but the distinction between poetic and prose literature can be fuzzy, particularly as some authors alternate between the two, often in the same work and I’ll note those entries that do.

When it comes to literary fiction, I also tend to read almost entirely novels or short stories. In other words – not the plays of that wider definition, although I’ll note entries for any notable adaptations on stage or screen.

Also, it’s not all literary fiction either – that is, novels or stories. Some of my favorite literary writing is in the form of essays and observational humor or comedy, although as with poetry, the distinction between literary fiction and non-fiction can be fuzzy, again with some authors alternating between them, often in the same work. So again I’ll note those entries that do.

 

FANTASY & COMEDY

 

This is the big one. As I also have my Top 10 Fantasy and Top 10 SF lists, I tend to reserve my Top 10 Literature for non-fantasy or non-SF literary fiction – but as I said, I tend towards fantasy and comedy in my favorite literary fiction, even that classified as “proper literature” rather than fantasy or SF genre fiction.

Also, such distinctions of genre are also notoriously fuzzy – I’d argue that such is the nature of fiction and imagination, both of which have elements of fantasy and comedy at their core.

Accordingly, I will include a fantasy & SF ranking in my entries, in which I’ll also include comedy rankings.

 

NO WILDCARD

 

Finally, I’m just not doing my usual wildcard tenth place mention for best of the present or previous year in my Top 10 Literature. I don’t do it for my Top 10 Poetry so I’m not doing it for my Top 10 Literature for the same reason that literary culture does not lend itself to the annual turnover of new entries in my other top ten lists for non-fiction literature or popular culture.

Sure, I could trawl through the annual prizes for literature – Nobel, Pulitzer, Booker – but then I’d also come up against the niche of my idiosyncratic tastes, which as I’ve said tend towards fantasy and comedy.

That’s reflected in my Top 10 Literature. 7 of the entries straight-up fantasy (or SF) or writers of fantasy elsewhere – and the other 3 are arguable as such. 8 of them are straight-up comedy or comedic – and the remaining 2 are again arguable as such.

Anyway, here is my Top 10 Literature list.

 

 

 

(10) IAIN BANKS –

THE WASP FACTORY (1984)

 

“Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I’d disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim.

That’s my score to date. Three. I haven’t killed anybody for years, and don’t intend to ever again.

It was just a stage I was going through.”

Says it all really. I’m a big fan of the importance of first lines or openings in books or stories. They should pack a punch or two – and Iain Bank’s The Wasp Factory certainly does that.

As for the book is about, well, let’s just say it’s one of the strangest coming of age books I’ve read, about a pyschopathic teenager living in a remote Scottish island with some big twists in the tale and not for the faint-hearted – par for the course for Banks, really. The titular Wasp Factory is a weird shamanic divinatory device the protagonist has constructed. Interestingly, it was Banks’ first novel and he wrote it to resemble science fiction – with the island resembling a planet and the protagonist an alien.

 

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

 

Banks definitely earns my fantasy & SF ranking for his SF books, most famously his Culture series of novels, although he published them as Iain M. Banks as opposed to Iain Banks.

There are dark comedic elements in Banks but I wouldn’t rank him as a comedic writer.

 

RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

Cover 1998 paperback edition, predating the TV series

 

 

(9) MARGARET ATWOOD –

THE HANDMAID’S TALE (1985)

 

“I’m the plot, babe, and don’t ever forget it.”

 

Yes – that’s from her story collection Good Bones but it’s my favorite Margaret Atwood quotation, voicing the evil stepmother in fairy tales, and in a way encapsulates all her writing, both fiction and non-fiction.

Otherwise, Margaret Atwood needs little introduction as an icon of modern literature – a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist and critic (among other things). She deserves her own Top 10 or indeed two of them, one for her short stories and one for her novels. Indeed, her short story anthology Good Bones was a leading contender for this entry (particularly as the first Atwood work I read), as was her novel The Robber Bride. Ultimately however I had to award it to her best-known novel, in part due to its adaptation as a TV series – The Handmaid’s Tale.

As such, The Handmaid’s Tale also needs little introduction – a spin on SF dystopian fiction, with women at the pointy end of its stick (although many men don’t have it too much better either). Its vivid portrayal of the titular Handmaids lent itself to television adaptation.

 

POETRY & OTHER

 

Yes – she writes poetry, so earns my poetry ranking. It’s good too although her lyrical writing style walks the line with poetry even in her prose – very evocative, whether fiction or writing in the style of essays.

And of course there’s the screen adaptation of her work, with the most famous and visually iconic being The Handmaid’s Tale.

She does write actual essays, although her short pieces often straddle the line between story and essay but in the most engaging way for both.

 

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

 

Some might say The Handmaid’s Tale wandered in here from the science fiction section, particularly for that novel – one of the most famous SF dystopias up there with 1984 and Brave New World. Atwood herself resisted the suggestion it was science fiction, although recently she’s embraced her inner fantasy nerd and the science fiction label to some degree. She’s even written graphic novels! So she gets my fantasy & SF ranking as well.

As for comedy, she does have a certain black or dry comedy about her but I wouldn’t really rank her as a comedic writer.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

(8) TOM ROBBINS –

ANOTHER ROADSIDE ATTRACTION (1971)

 

“Real courage is risking one’s clichés.”

Writer of comic novels, “often experimental in form and subject”, with “satirical, political and erotic elements”. Also fantasy or literary magical realism.

Another Roadside Attraction essentially – but entertainingly – meanders through musings on religion from the lens of the 1960’s.

The plot is too convoluted to encapsulate here without spoiling it, but it does indeed involve the titular roadside attraction – or at least attempt at one by an archetypal sixties couple, with Amanda Ziller or the female member of the couple resembling a pagan goddess figure. Things heat up when one of their friends smuggles out of the Vatican a certain mummified corpse that shouldn’t have been there – or anywhere if certain books are to be believed.

 

POETRY & OTHER

 

I’m not sure if he’s written any poetry but he certainly has a lyrical prose style:

“When he starts a novel, it works like this. First he writes a sentence. Then he rewrites it again and again, examining each word, making sure of its perfection, finely honing each phrase until it reverberates with the subtle texture of the infinite. Sometimes it takes hours. Sometimes an entire day is devoted to one sentence, which gets marked on and expanded upon in every possible direction until he is satisfied. Then, and only then, does he add a period.”

As for drama, at least one of his books – Even Cowgirls Get the Blues – has been adapted to film

 

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

 

Did you not see my reference to fantasy and magical realism? One of my fantasy entries in the top ten.

Also did you not see my reference to writer of comic novels – not the most comedic entry in my top ten but definitely one of the more comedic entries.

 

RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

(7) KURT VONNEGUT –

SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE (1969)

 

“And so it goes”.

Kurt Vonnegut has his own eponymous literary adjectives – or adjectives, Vonnegutian as pertaining to Vonnegut or his works, and Vonnegutesque more broadly as reminiscent or in the style of Vonnegut’s works.

Of course, he earned his eponymous adjectives with his signature style and themes. For the former, I always think of his conversational prose or playful synchronicity, and for the latter, I always think of his absurdist satire.

Vonnegut definitely wandered into here from the science fiction section. Of course, the literary establishment tend to identify him as ‘proper’ literature rather than science fiction, despite the time travel and aliens in his most iconic work, Slaughterhouse Five.

“Satirical, anti-authoritarian, humanist, absurdist and often brutally depressing world-view” (although tempered by his recurring theme that love may fail but courtesy will prevail).

The focus of Slaughterhouse-Five, is the bombing of Dresden in the WW2 – as it was for Vonnegut himself as a prisoner-of-war in the city at the time (even if he understandably relied on over-estimates of the civilian casualties).

Hapless protagonist Billy Pilgrim, stand-in for Vonnegut as POW in Dresden, has come “unstuck in time”, due to being abducted by the four-dimensional Tralfamadorian aliens.

Among other things, they place Pilgrim in an alien zoo to mate with a fellow abductee, adult film star Montana Wildhack – which, incidentally, is my own fervent aspiration in the event of alien abduction or invasion. Or really just any excuse for it.

And it gets weirder from there – interspersed throughout with characteristic running gags of synchronicity or serendipity. In this case, the recurring first dirty photograph in the world, made a year after photography itself.

 

POETRY & OTHER

 

Yeah – I can’t give Kurt a poetry ranking. He did write plays however so I suppose he should get a drama ranking but even more so he earns a ranking for essays if only for the conversational introductions to his books. I particularly liked his introduction to Jailbird – which I might rank higher than Slaughterhouse but for that book’s iconic status – in which he quips a student summed up all his writing in just seven words. “Love may fail but courtesy will prevail”.

 

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

 

As I said, he wandered into literary fiction from the SF section – and also is one of the more comedic writers in my top ten.

 

RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

Yeah – I can see why they just used his name and the title on the cover. I mean, they couldn’t exactly just put a piece of liver on it…

 

(6) PHILIP ROTH –

PORTNOY’S COMPLAINT (1969)

 

“Doctor, this is my only life and I’m living it in the middle of a Jewish joke!”

And it even has a punchline. No, seriously.

Well, I suppose it could be worse – he could be undergoing a Kafkaesque transformation into a breast, the titular (heh) fate of Roth’s protagonist in a subsequent book, The Breast. No, seriously.

Philip Roth put the kink into my literary fiction. And he did it with this book – his fourth and most controversial novel that nevertheless gave him “widespread commercial and critical success”.

Portnoy’s Complaint is his magnum opus of kink, perpetually warring with the Freudian Jewish-American guilt from that kink – a confessional of unsatiated satyriasis. Or dare I quip of sexual Judaism – or a comedic spin on Chesterton’s Song of the Strange Ascetic, of one who does have the guilt and cannot have the fun.

Again no, seriously. The titular Portnoy’s complaint even has a clinical definition at the outset, virtually synonymous with satyriasis.

“The novel tells the humorous monologue of “a lust-ridden, mother-addicted young Jewish bachelor”, who confesses to his psychoanalyst in “intimate, shameful detail, and coarse, abusive language.”…Portnoy’s Complaint is a continuous monologue by narrator Alexander Portnoy to Dr. Spielvogel, his psychoanalyst”.

Apparently in the one session, albeit of a few hours or so – the bill from that had to hurt – and he’s still (literally) only just getting started.

And oh boy – Alex Portnoy is one sick puppy. Men will compulsively pursue one sexual misadventure after another before going to therapy.

Let’s just say you won’t forget one chapter title in particular – or one scene in a chapter of similar scenes of frenzied onanism that I’m sure was the inspiration for the titular scene in the American Pie film, except with the liver that was the family’s dinner.

 

POETRY & OTHER

 

“Roth is known for his distinctive writing style, which is at once analytical, empassioned, confessional, foul-mouthed and extremely verbose.” Now if that’s not poetry, I don’t know what is!

Also “several of his works have been adapted into films, but rarely with results considered satisfactory by critics”.

 

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

 

Not so much on this book but Roth definitely flirts with fantasy, at least as magical realism – see the aforementioned transformation in (and into) The Breast. And science fiction, at least as alternative history.

As for comedy, one of the most comedic entries into my top ten. Portnoy’s Complaint reads up as stand-up comedy performance – and has been literally “likened to the stand-up performances of 1960s comedian Lenny Bruce”.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

Poster of the 2001 Australian film adapted from the novel, directed by Richard Lowenstein (and distributed by Roadshow Entertainment) and starring Noah Taylor

 

(5) JOHN BIRMINGHAM –

HE DIED WITH A FELAFEL IN HIS HAND (1994)

 

I haven’t just read He Died with a Felafel in His Hand – I’ve lived it!

JB was first published in Semper Floreat, student newspaper at the University in Queensland, where he studied law among ‘rat-faced bastards’ who wouldn’t lend him their notes. Damn law students!

Fortunately he did not graduate to become a lawyer but instead became a published writer with his 1994 share-house living memoir He Died with a Felafel in His Hand – an eclectic gonzo collection of “colorful anecdotes” about living in increasingly squalid share houses in Australia and with increasingly dubious housemates (included the titular deceased felafel-holder).

And not just any writer – Australia’s own gonzo writer in the style of Hunter S. Thompson, albeit without the trunk full of acid and other drugs (or at least, not quite full).

 

POETRY & OTHER

 

No poetry ranking as such, but he does score my drama ranking – with Felafel adapted into the longest running stage play in Australian history, a cult film in 2001 and a graphic novel. It was also arguably adapted as its own sequel The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco, which was less a sequel than a more straightforward linear narrative fictionalization of the original (or ‘remake’).

And as Australia’s own gonzo writer in the style of Hunter S. Thompson, he also writes humorous essays or pieces, as well as other non-fiction.

 

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

 

Birmo scores high in my fantasy & SF ranking, as of late he’s taken to writing highly entertaining SF thrillers (including the so-called Birmoverse) and space opera.

Also one of the outright comedic entries in my top ten.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

(4) PETER CAREY –

BLISS (1981)

 

“Harry Joy was to die three times, but it was his first death that was to have the greatest effect on him”.

More than a touch of fantasy – or “magical realism” as they call it in literary fiction.

Indeed, almost my favorite subgenre of fantasy, posthumous fantasy, with that first death of Harry Joy. He gets better.

But his ‘afterlife’ takes a turn for the worse.

“Written as a dark, comic fable, the story concerns an advertising executive, Harry Joy, who briefly ‘dies’ of a heart attack. On being resuscitated, he realizes that the life he has previously drifted amiably through is in fact Hell – literally so to Harry”

Resonant with mythic and symbolic imagery – one of the biggest influences on my own imagination. Not to mention one of two Australian entries in my top ten – publishing his works through the University of Queensland Press, no less.

 

POETRY & OTHER

 

I don’t know about poetry but Carey earns my drama ranking for the film adaptation of Bliss in 1985 as something of a cult classic, albeit award-winning (in Australia). It has subsequently been adapted to stage.

 

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

 

Yes – Carey earns my fantasy ranking, for that aforementioned touch of (posthumous) fantasy or magical realism.

Not the most comedic entry in my top ten but still earns my comedy ranking for his dry black comedy.

 

RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

(3) DOUGLAS COUPLAND –

GENERATION X (1991)

 

“Kind of scary, kind of sexy, tainted by regret. A lot like life, wouldn’t you say?”

Popularized the term Generation X with its title, as well as numerous other neologisms.

McJob – “a low-pay, low-prestige, low-dignity, low-benefit, no-future job in the service sector. Frequently considered a satisfying career choice by people who have never held one”.

Or ‘veal-fattening pens’ for office cubicles. Or ‘pull-the-plug, slice-the-pie’ for the “fantasy in which an offspring mentally tallies up the net worth of his parents”. I wonder if my mother still pops in here – hi, Mum!)

Essentially a latter day Canterbury Tales on the eve of the second millennium – a framed narrative of a story-telling contest by a group of youths of the titular generation and varying dysfunction.

 

POETRY & OTHER

 

No poetry ranking as he hasn’t written any poetry, although he does get lyrical in his prose. He does earn a drama ranking as he has written screenplays – although ironically not for this novel, which would seem to be eminently suited to stage at least.

 

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

 

Coupland hovers on the edge of fantasy and SF – at least in some of the stories his characters tell here. While not the most comedic entry in this top ten, he does have a dry comedic style.

 

RATING:
S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

 

 

 

(2) JEREMY LEVEN –
SATAN: HIS PSYCHOTHERAPY & CURE BY THE UNFORTUNATE DR KASSLER J.S.P.S (1982)

 

“The truth of the matter is, I am not the Father of Evil…I am not a seducer. Or an accuser. Or a destroyer…But let me tell you something. You never hear of a vengeful Satan, a Satan of wrath, a Satan who brings on pestilence and famine. That’s the other fellow. You should keep this in mind”.

Somewhat loosely a fantasy, but the titular character is primarily a plot device for black comedy and satire – a black comedy of life itself and a satire of religion. A theological version of my top entry and as indelibly planted in my adolescent psyche.

 

The raunchy cover of the edition I borrowed to read in my youth but sadly not the cover of the edition I bought later

 

Although devilishly funny in its entirety, the highlight (and centerpiece) of the book is the seven psychotherapy sessions with hapless psychologist Kassler, agreed by the latter in a literal deal with the devil in exchange for Satan’s revelation of the Great Secret of Life.

I and my sense of religion were never the same after reading this book – and Satan forever changed for me from a supernatural figure of childhood Catholic fear to a more mythic figure of the human condition, as forlorn and lost as any of us.

 

POETRY & OTHER

 

No poetry ranking but Leven does earn a drama ranking as an actual screenwriter. Sadly, while his first novel Creator – also a great read – was adapted to a film, this one wasn’t. Which is a pity as it would have made a cracking film.

 

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

 

Given its plot and premise, this book could well be argued to be fantasy – as indeed could all three of his books. And it is one of the funniest books in my top ten.

 

RATING:
S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

 

 

(1) JOSEPH HELLER –

CATCH 22 (1961)

 

“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22…”

Yeah – this is the big one. This is the book that changed me forever. If you peel back the layers of my psyche, you’d find this book lodged deep in my mind. Even more than any fantasy or science fiction book, this book is the lens by which I see the world.

An absurdist and at times black comedy. Life is the laughter of the gods – but sometimes they have a black sense of humor.

A satirical antiwar novel – it focuses on Yossarian, an American bombardier in the Second World War, who would very much like to not be a bombardier in the Second World War.

Distinctive non-linear or “non-chronological omniscient third person” narrative, with the plot seemingly an assortment of random events on base or shifting focus across several characters (among the most humorous character vignettes in literary fiction) – although linked by the main focus on Yossarian and recurring story arc of mysterious references to Snowden.

And of course the novel originated the titular expression to describe a no-win situation or a double bind.

“A wild, moving, shocking, hilarious, raging, exhilarating, giant roller-coaster of a book”.

 

POETRY & OTHER

 

No poetry ranking but Heller does get my drama ranking for writing plays and screenplays, including three plays based on Catch-22. Catch-22 has also been adapted to film in 1970 – it’s not bad but it’s not the book either – and a six-episode miniseries by George Clooney in 2019 – again not the book but not bad either, probably better than the film

 

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

 

The absurdism verges on fantasy but Heller can’t be ranked in the fantasy (or SF) genre, at least in this book – on the other hand, Catch-22 is the best comedic book in literary fiction.

 

RATING:
S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

 

 

 

 

 

TOP 10 LITERATURE (TIER LIST)

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

(1) JOSEPH HELLER – CATCH 22

(2) JEREMY LEVEN – SATAN: HIS PSYCHOTHERAPY & CURE

(3) DOUGLAS COUPLAND – GENERATION X

 

If Catch-22 is my Old Testament of literary fiction, Satan: His Psychotherapy & Cure and Generation X are my New Testament.

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

(4) PETER CAREY – BLISS

(5) JOHN BIRMINGHAM – HE DIED WITH A FELAFEL IN HIS HAND

(6) PHILIP ROTH – PORTNOY’S COMPLAINT

(7) KURT VONNEGUT – SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE

(8) TOM ROBBINS – ANOTHER ROADSIDE ATTRACTION

(9) MARGARET ATWOOD – THE HANDMAID’S TALE

(10) IAIN BANKS – THE WASP FACTORY

 

 

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Animated Films (Complete & Revised 2026)

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“Steamboat Willie” – the animated short film that was the debut film distributed for Disney’s Mickey Mouse and one of the first cartoons with synchronized sound – now in public domain!

 

 

TOP 10 ANIMATED FILMS

 

Animation is my favorite medium, albeit more for TV series than film – my favorite TV series are always animated TV series. However, animated films aren’t far behind as there’s something about the animated medium that seems to retain creativity beyond the point where live-action medium counterparts exhausts it.

Of course, part of that might be the advantage the animated medium has in being able to depict things on screen through its definitive animation of art, which can only be replicated in the live-action medium, if at all, through practical or CGI effects. For me, live-action CGI effects still lag behind their animated counterparts, even that of digital animation – ironically both in terms of realism seamlessly with the live action components on screen and the emotional expressiveness of depiction. An example of the latter is that of animals, where animated art can depict them with more human-like features or expressions. For me, that was one of the issues with the recent Disney trend of live action remakes of their animated films. If your live action remake needs to be substantially or predominantly CGI to replicate the original animation or its characters, then you are essentially substituting one form of animation for another – and an inferior one at that.

Another part of my enjoyment of animated films – and hence my separate top ten for them – following from the above is their versatility for depicting fantasy or science fiction. The medium of animation seems ideally suited to fantasy or SF, perhaps even more so than the live-action film medium – except for the human attachment to seeing the human actors on screen, rather than hearing their voices from their animated avatars. Hence, my Top 10 Animated Films is effectively a subset of my Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films, as each entry is either fantasy or SF and I will note the extent of each entry as such. As a general rule, animated films lean towards fantasy, while films adapted from comics (for which I have a separate top ten) lean towards SF.

They also tend to be comedic in nature, with the animated medium being ideal for visual as well as verbal humor – such that they might also effectively be a subset of my Top 10 Comedy Films and again I will note the extent of each entry as comedy.

Anyway, these are my Top 10 Animated Films.

 

Screenshot of the protagonist K-pop demonhunter or Huntrix trio from the opening sequence song “How It’s Done” – “Golden” may have (deservedly) got the airplay but this song and its sequence are up there!

 

 

(10) KPOP DEMONHUNTERS

(SONY / NETFLIX 2025)

 

I tend to reserve my tenth place as a wildcard entry for the best of the present or previous year – and for 2025, what else could that be but KPop Demon Hunters, as “the most-watched original title in Netflix history with over 500 million views”?

I am as surprised as you are. Initially, I had seen it in my Netflix menu and skipped over it, inferring (correctly) that I was not the target demographic. I watched it at the suggestion of a work colleague who was the target demographic – a young mother of young girls. And you know what – it transcended its target demographic. It was fun, it was slick animation, it had some banger tunes, and I liked it.

“KPop Demonhunters is a 2025 American animated musical urban fantasy film…The story follows a K-pop girl group, Huntrix, who lead double lives as demon hunters. They face off against a rival boy band, the Saja Boys, whose members are secretly demons.”

It may have been an American film but it wore its Korean origin on its sleeve, and of course in its title. The writer Maggie Kang “wanted to create a story inspired by her Korean heritage, drawing on elements of mythology, demonology, and K-pop to craft a visually distinct and culturally rooted film” and “the visuals were influenced by concert lighting, editorial photography, music videos, and anime and Korean dramas”.

It also had its tongue firmly in its cheek with its story. Even the demons laugh at the idea of a demon boy band until the latter strikes a pose – “oh yeah, totally gonna work”.

“KPop Demon Hunters received acclaim for its animation, visual style, voice acting, story, and music” – as I said, I don’t know so much about the story which it playfully subverts but that’s boosted by all the other elements that are, dare I say it, popping.

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

If the demonhunters of the title didn’t give it away as fantasy…

 

COMEDY

 

Part of its charm – lyrical, verbal and visual comedy!

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2025

 

 

 

Poster art of the film’s extensive character cast

 

 

(9) ZOOTOPIA

(2016 – with sequel in 2025)

 

Who doesn’t love anthropomorphic animals? Of course, Zootopia is a whole world exclusively of anthropomorphic animals (and it won’t be the only such world in my top ten animated films), a world very much like ours but with every other mammal in our place.

Although…when you take it too seriously (and I take my fictional worlds way too seriously), Zootopia is not quite the utopia its name suggests. As Cracked has pointed out, for the sake of a few rabbit sex jokes, Zootopia is about to go post-apocalyptic from total ecological collapse – in about a week or so. “Zootopia is a movie about the brief halcyon days of an imperious city as it remains wilfully blind to its inevitable doom”.

Alternatively, as I have mused before, is The Island of Doctor Moreau the grim backstory of Zootopia? You know, after he unleashed his army of beast-men and women on an unsuspecting humanity…

But enough of that – Zootopia is a film that is equally cute, funny and heartwarming, a “3D computer animated buddy cop comedy mystery adventure film” as cute protagonist rabbit police officer Judy Hopps, pairs up with slick fox con artist Nick Wilde.

The animation is lush and visually spectacular – they developed fur-controlling software (iGroom) – with thoughtful themes for the contemporary society the animal world reflects.

I’m looking forward to the sequel film coming out in 2025.

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

Well perhaps SF with some extensive genetic engineering but I’m going to rank this as fantasy – classic beast fable mode!

 

COMEDY

 

Definitely a comedy – from the odd couple protagonists to gags on animal characteristics as adapted to what would otherwise be an human urban environment.

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

*

 

 

(8) INSIDE OUT

(2015 – with sequel in 2024)

 

The depiction of a mental landscape may not have been an entirely original concept, but it was executed superbly in Pixar’s Inside Out.

The first film was set in the mind of a young girl Riley, dominated by a console or control panel run by five personified emotions – Joy, Sorrow, Fear, Anger and Disgust (color-coded for your convenience!)

The control room overlooks an imaginative mental landscape, primarily consisting of islands of memory or personality about the memory dump – which is a literal memory abyss or hole (or a metaphorical Lethe of forgetfulness). The plot revolves around a typical odd couple pairing of Joy and Sadness, as the two are accidentally sucked into Riley’s long-term memories and try to return to the control room, as the mental landscape deteriorates into outright collapse around them in something akin to emotional breakdown (due to Riley’s family moving from Minnesota to San Francisco). Of course, while Joy is paired with Sorrow (and helped by Riley’s imaginary friend), it leaves only Fear, Anger and Disgust to run her psyche (or as Honest Trailers quipped, leaving her psyche to be run by “your average YouTube comments section”. Or any internet comment section for that matter, as well as the X formerly known as Twitter).

Although now that I think about it, it would be interesting to see the (adult) Freudian version of the film, particularly with the superego, ego and id. (But then again, I am my own id. I’m all id, baby!). Or perhaps, the Jungian version, with all those mythic archetypes…

There was the sequel film in 2024 which added a few more adolescent emotions headed by Anxiety to Riley’s mental landscape.

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

Given it’s the emotional or psychological landscape, it probably evades easy genre distinctions but I’m going with fantasy.

 

COMEDY

 

Comedic – but not surprisingly it has many emotional (heh) moments.

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

*

 

 

(7) WRECK-IT RALPH

(2012 – I’ve decided to discount the sequel film even if it had its moments)

 

Disney film Wreck-It Ralph took us inside video games with its protagonist as the eponymous villain in a 1980’s 8-bit video game (reminiscent of Donkey Kong, with Ralph as Kong), who rebels against his role and dreams of being a hero ‘off-screen’. He sees his opportunity in another game of Hero’s Duty (a more modern first-person shooter game in the style of Halo and Call of Duty among others) – unfortunately, his efforts lead to one of its self-replicating alien bug antagonists escaping to yet another game, Sugar Rush (a kart racing game in the style of Super Mario). And things get worse from there…

The plot is fun but the true delight of Wreck-It Ralph is the exuberant abundance of video game references – in visual gags and characters. These are introduced from the outset – Ralph’s support group of video game antagonists (Bad-Anon) includes Bowser from the Mario franchise and Doctor Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as M. Bison and Zangief from the Street Fighter. That’s just for starters – there’s Tapper (from the Tapper game, who runs an off-screen bar in the same style as his game for video game characters), Sonic the Hedgehog, other characters from Street Fighter, Pac-Man and ghosts (Blinky, Pinky and Inky), Dig Dug, Frogger, Q-bert and more. Even that most basic original video game, Pong. There are video game references in the most amazing (and fleeting) details, such as sound effects and graffiti – “Aerith lives”, “Shen Long was here” and “All your base are belong to us” among others.

Ralph returned for a sequel breaking (surely that should have been wrecking?) the internet but it just didn’t have the same clever play on its subject that the original film had for video games.

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

I’m saying fantasy – but technofantasy, given the premise is based on computer game characters, not unlike the programs in Tron.

 

COMEDY

 

Definitely a comedy – including many gaming in-jokes.

 

 

RATING: 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

Screenshot from its standout opening sequence – which includes its iconic song Fearless Hero

 

 

(6) PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

(2022)

 

“Who is your favorite fearless hero?”

I would never have thought I’d have ranked this Shrek spinoff series in my top ten, at least based on the first film – until it hit it out of the park with the second film.

“The film’s voice cast includes Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek reprising their respective roles as the titular character and Kitty Softpaws…The story follows Puss in Boots…(teaming up with Kitty Softpaws) to find the Last Wish of the fallen Wishing Star to restore eight of his nine lives. They race against other fairy tale characters seeking the same treasure, while a sinister wolf hunts Puss himself.”

Firstly, there’s the film’s visual style, diverging from previous films in the Shrek franchise (including the first Puss in Boots film) for “a painterly style to resemble a fairy-tale story”, as well as the most vivid animation I’ve seen outside the Spiderverse films.

Secondly, there’s the surprising darker tone and depth from, well, death – Puss’ mortality and fear of death, as he is relentlessly pursued for his last life by one of the most terrifying villains in animated film.

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

Fairytale fantasy!

 

COMEDY

 

Like all films in the Shrek franchise, it leans heavily into comedy but has some serious emotional beats along with its darker tone, including one of the most genuine depictions of a panic attack in film.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(5) MEGAMIND

(2010)

 

“Oh you’re a villain alright, just not a super one!”

“Yeah, what’s the difference?”

“PRESEN-TATION!”

 

And how! Now THAT’S how you do a supervillain protagonist in a superhero comics movie.

Megamind is an inversion, subversion and deconstruction of superhero mythos, particularly Superman. In the words of TV Tropes:

“What happens when you take the Superman mythos and give the point of view (and ultimate victory) to Lex Luthor/Brainiac instead?”

Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell) – as indicated, an alien supervillain combination of Superman villains Lex Luthor and Brainiac, but more resembling a blue Brainiac in appearance – consistently fails in his plots against Metro Man (voiced by Brad Pitt), the film’s Superman counterpart (based in Metro City), usually by kidnapping Lois Lane counterpart, the equally alliterative Roxanne Ritchi (voiced by Tina Fey). For what it’s worth, Megamind is helped by his hordes of robots as well as Minion, his – ah – minion, a sapient talking alien fish in a somewhat inexplicable robot gorilla costume.

However, in their last confrontation, Megamind actually manages to destroy his nemesis, much to his own surprise, although he doesn’t waste much time celebrating his victory by taking over Metro City.

After initially gloating over his victory, Megamind soon realizes that winning isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And so he dreams up the creation of a new superhero adversary, only for it to go horribly wrong when his new nemesis doesn’t play by the same rules as Metro Man…

“So what’s the plan?”

“Well, it mostly involves not dying!”

“I like that plan!”

Hmm – sounds like most of my plans…

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

One of the rare SF entries in my Top 10 Animated Films, albeit on the softer side in the same vein as Superman.

 

COMEDY

 

One of the more comedic entries, not surprisingly given its voice cast but also its premise of superhero parody.

 

RATING: 

A-TIER (TOP-TIER)

*

In this undated animated still frame released by Pixar, The Incredibles family: speedy 10-year old Dash, left, shy teenager Violet, second from left, the strong and heroic Mr. Incredible, center, and ultra-flexible Elastigirl appear in this scene from “The Incredibles.”

 

 

(4) THE INCREDIBLES

(2004-2018: INCREDIBLES 1-2)

 

“You sly dog! You got me monologuing!”

This is how you do a Fantastic Four film. Yes, my fourth place entry, Pixar’s The Incredibles, is not actually a Fantastic Four film, but it deftly handles a similar superhero family or team ensemble with almost the same powers. In the words of TV Tropes, “it’s an affectionately parodic Decon-Recon Switch of the superhero genre, happily hanging lampshades on many conventions”.

Superheroes have been forced into government-sponsored retirement, due to public liability lawsuits. Damn lawyers! Of course, financial issues for superheroes are not often addressed in comics – or indeed, in many fictional narrative in popular culture. One exception is writer Grant Morrison, with his characteristic deconstruction or subversion of superhero tropes – as a female bystander wails while her car is totaled in a superhero battle in Morrison’s Animal Man, “I don’t have superhero insurance!’

Anyway, super-strong Mr. Incredible and rubber woman Elastigirl are now just Bob and Helen Parr, trying to live a quiet suburban life with their superpowered children, Dash (who has super-speed), (shrinking) Violet (who can project force fields as well as become invisible – essentially the same power set as Sue Storm in the Fantastic Four) and baby Jack-Jack (who doesn’t seem to have manifested any superpowers). Trying being the operative word – particularly as Bob finds his employment and suburban life chafing. And so he jumps at the chance offered by a mysterious woman Mirage to use his superpowers – only to find himself in more trouble than he can handle on his own at the hands of a new supervillain with ties to his past.

Just remember – no capes!

And there was a long-awaited sequel in 2018, which although it did not quite live up to the original, maintained much of the same spirit.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

Like Megamind with its origin in Superman, I’m going to go with SF for this one, consistently with its origin in The Fantastic Four (although FF leans more into SF, what with the space travel and all). Even if some of those superpowers push the boundaries into fantasy.

 

COMEDY

 

And also like Megamind with its affectionate superhero parody, The Incredibles also leans to the more comedic end of the scale – also with its affectionate superhero parody – although not at much as Megamind with its outright comedic cast.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP-TIER)

*

 

(3) KUNG FU PANDA

(2008-2016: KUNG FU PANDA 1-3. Yeah…I just can’t bring myself to count the fourth film)

 

“Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend”

What’s not to love about Dreamwork’s Kung Fu Panda, or for that matter, the rest of the trilogy (discounting the fourth film)?

It’s set in an anthropomorphic animal version of pre-modern China – that alone would be enough to make it awesome.

And then there’s the story, deftly balanced between comedy and epic magical or wuxia martial arts action, with CGI animation and beautiful art – for even more awesome, such that will make your enemies go blind from overexposure to pure awesomeness. And just like the titular Panda, I love kung fu, or more precisely, my kung fu movies ever since seeing Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon

The eponymous panda, Po, is a hopeless fanboy of the kung fu masters, particularly the Furious Five, composed of animal homages to kung fu styles (Tiger, Monkey, Crane, Viper and Mantis) – hopeless, that is, until he is thrust, by fate and fireworks, into the position of the legendary Dragon Warrior. Worse, he has to fight the dangerous snow leopard Tai Lung (awesomely voiced, as always, by Ian McShane), who seeks the title of Dragon Warrior for himself…

However, my favorite kung fu panda in the film trilogy is not Po, but the red panda Master Shifu – voiced by Dustin Hoffman, who combines just the right amount of wise mysticism with worldly exasperation (usually at Po).

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

Very much the fantasy side of the scale – combining both wuxia fantasy and animal fable.

 

COMEDY

 

Very much the comedic side of the scale as well.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

*

 

 

(2) SHREK

(2001-2010: SHREK 1-4. Yeah, the third film is lackluster but I didn’t mind the fourth)

 

“I’m not the monster here, you are. You and that fairy tale trash poisoning my perfect world”

What’s not to love about Dreamworks 2001 film Shrek? Or its 2004 sequel for that matter?

The ultimate fractured fairy tale, the film has all the ingredients of the fairy tale – an adventurer on a quest to save a princess in a castle guarded by a dragon – except that the adventurer is the eponymous green-skinned ogre, who just wants to regain the solitude of his swamp from the fairy tale creatures who have been exiled there by (ahem) Lord Farquaad. To do so, he undertakes to save the princess Fiona for marriage to Farquaad, accompanied by the obnoxiously conversational talking donkey, named Donkey of course. And that’s where things go even further astray from your traditional fairy tale.

“Notorious for its humor, both witty and slapstick, for turning everything we knew from fairy tales upside-down, and for a ridiculously modern feel of its medieval fantasy setting”, it was the winner of the first Academy Award for Animated Feature.

Some would argue that the sequel Shrek 2 was even better than the original – even if that would make it an exception to my Stark Law of Sequels that the original is always the best. On the other hand, I just can’t resist Antonio Banderas’ purringly-voiced Puss in Boots.

No one argues the third film compares to the first two but I don’t mind the fourth. We’ll have to see how the fifth film turns out.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

*

 

 

(1) TOY STORY

(1995-2010: TOY STORY 1-3 and beyond?)

 

“To infinity and beyond!”

The flagship of Pixar Animation Studios and of course my top ten animated films, Toy Story was the first computer animated film (and therefore an extraordinarily influential part of what TV Tropes labels the Renaissance Age of Animation). It also was the flagship of the Toy Story franchise, with two film sequels that maintain the quality of the original (although Stark’s Law of Sequels still gives first place to the original) – I particularly like the interpretation that the third Toy Story film is about the afterlife, with a metaphorical representation of every major version of the afterlife in Western popular culture.

Toy Story itself, both film and franchise, needs little introduction – a story about toys that come to life when their owners are not around. The film introduces us to a group of toys belonging to a boy named Andy, led by Andy’s favorite toy – Woody, a classic cowboy doll with a pull-string vocalizer. (“Reach for the sky!”). Unfortunately for Woody, Andy acquires a new favorite for his birthday – in the form of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. To complicate things further, Buzz believes that he is actually an astronaut adventurer rather than a toy. What ensues is a buddy comedy adventure film, as Buzz and Woody have to work together to overcome mutual perils.

Terry Gilliam praised the film as “a work of genius” – “It got people to understand what toys are about. They’re true to their own character. And that’s just brilliant. It’s got a shot that’s always stuck with me, when Buzz Lightyear discovers he’s a toy. He’s sitting on this landing at the top of the staircase and the camera pulls back and he’s this tiny little figure. He was this guy with a massive ego two seconds before… and it’s stunning. I’d put that as one of my top ten films, period.”

And as you can see, I’ve put it at the top of my top ten animated films, albeit I’ve confined this entry to the classic trilogy of films from Toy Story 1 to 3. The franchise does include other works, notably the fourth film in 2019 and the fifth film in 2025 – I actually think the fourth film is decent but I just couldn’t compare it to that original trilogy of Toy Story 1-3 as a near perfect trilogy.

 

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

 

 

 

 

TOP 10 ANIMATED FILMS (TIER LIST)

*

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

*

(1) TOY STORY

Yes – I’ll count the first three films as a near perfect film trilogy, with the second film as perhaps the best. The fourth film was decent but just doesn’t compare to the first three films.

(2) SHREK

Again – I’ll count the franchise, although I’d swap out the lackluster third film for the fourth, with again the second film as perhaps the best.

(3) KUNG FU PANDA

Like Toy Story, I’ll count the first three films – but with the first film as best. The fourth film is lackluster.

*

If Toy Story is my Old Testament of animated films, then Shrek and Kung Fu Panda are my New Testament.

*

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

*

(4) THE INCREDIBLES

I’ll include both films but the original shines over the sequel.

(5) MEGAMIND

Sticking with the superhero parody theme from the previous entry, I just have a soft spot for this underrated gem.

(6) PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

I had not expected such a stunning performance from what is a sequel to a Shrek spinoff – but there you have it.

*

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

*

(7) WRECK-IT RALPH

Yes – I’m only counting the first film

(8) INSIDE OUT

(9) ZOOTOPIA

*

X-TIER (WILD TIER – BEST OF 2025)

*

(10) K-POP DEMONHUNTERS

Top Tens – Tropes & Other: Top 10 Extinction Events (Special Mention)

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The famous Edwards’ Dodo painted by Roelant Savary in 1626 (after naturalist George Edwards who gave the image to the British Museum after it came into his possession)

 

 

TOP 10 EXTINCTION EVENTS (SPECIAL MENTION)

 

But wait – there’s even more extinction events!

“Estimates of the number of major mass extinctions in the last 540 million years range from as few as five to more than twenty. These differences stem from disagreement as to what constitutes a major extinction event, and the data chosen to measure past diversity”.

So more than enough for my usual twenty special mentions, although I don’t quite go so far as twenty extinction events, as I finish up with a few wilder entries – and start with a few more basic ones.

.Speaking of which…

 

(1) EXTINCTION

 

Well, you can’t have an extinction event without extinction!

So my first special mention has to go to the basic concept of extinction, which as it turns out is not so basic after all.

Coextinction, de-extinction, ecological extinction, extinct in the wild, functional extinction, extinction debt, extinction risk, extinction threshold, extinction vortex, latent extinction risk, local extinction, pseudoextinction, quasi-extinction – more than enough for their own top ten.

 

(2) EXTINCTION CAUSES

 

Of course, the Earth getting whomped by a whopping big asteroid will do it.

But apart from that…

As I said, you can’t have an extinction event without extinction – and you can’t have extinction without causes of extinction.

So my second special mention of extinction causes naturally follows from extinction itself as my first special mention – and it turns out that causes of extinction aren’t so basic either, particularly in the Holocene.

Climate variability and change, genetic erosion, habitat destruction, human impact on the environment, invasive species, Muller’s ratchet, mutational mayhem, overabundant species, overexploitation, overshoot, paradox of enrichment – more than enough for their own top ten.

 

(3) HUMAN EXTINCTION

 

For us, this would be the big one – THE extinction event.

You could also argue that it would be the last extinction event. Sure, extinction events would still happen – at least one in the next special mention – but unless another species evolved (or visited) to measure them, then they’d be like so that Zen tree falling in a forest with no one to hear it.

Of course, one might quibble with human extinction as an extinction event, given the former by definition is the extinction of one species, contrary to the high extinction rate of the latter.

Firstly, it’s like the old quip about the unemployment rate – the unemployment rate is 100% to you if you’re the one out of a job. Ditto human extinction for us with extinction rate.

Secondly, given contemporary humanity with its geographic spread and technological resources, I’d wager that any extinction event that can take us all out would have to take out a whole lot of other species as well.

The usual discussion about human extinction is the extent to which it would arise from natural risks – or anthropogenic ones of our own making. The consensus tends to be that the former involve relatively low risk of near-term human extinction, the latter not so much.

Anyway, human extinction is a subject that could have a top ten list of its own, although it largely overlaps one of my favorite recurring subjects that could have many top ten lists – apocalypse.

 

(4) FUTURE EXTINCTION

 

The Earth isn’t done with extinction events either – we know there will be a gauntlet of extinction events in the future, the last of which will ultimately involve a 100% extinction rate for any life living on the planet.

That’s not even including “random celestial events” that “pose a global risk to the biosphere, which can result in mass extinction” – impact by comets or asteroids, near-Earth supernova, and so on.

Of the more predictable long-term impacts, the most substantial is the steady increase in the Sun’s luminosity. In about half a billion years, that will result in atmospheric carbon dioxide falling below the levels required for photosynthesis and hence the extinction of plants.

Any life that does make it past then – presumably simple or microbial life – will face an uber-greenhouse effect with runaway evaporation of the oceans at about a billion years.

Any life that persists in the isolated pockets that remain remotely hospitable for it – at the poles, underground, and so forth – will face an increasingly impossible gauntlet of extinction that will be total at some point or other, whether when the whole planet surface essentially becomes a game of the floor is lava, or when the Sun expands enough to swallow it all up.

It’s a sobering thought to think that Earth only has a window of opportunity for complex life of about a billion years or so – and that we’re presently about halfway through it. At least, that’s what Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee propose in their book The Life and Death of Planet Earth.

Of course, a billion years is a long time, but it is only a small proportion – a twelfth or so? – of the planet’s duration, and even that is punctuated by numerous extinction events.

Even if humanity gets off the planet (taking whatever other life with it), other habitable planets have the same issue – and there’s an even bigger gauntlet of cosmic extinction events to run in the wider universe…

 

(5) BACKGROUND EXTINCTION

 

Extinction is kind of like the Hulk in The Avengers film – it’s always angry.

Extinction is always there as part of the natural evolutionary process – it just hulks out with a higher rate during extinction events. For example, our present Holocene extinction rates are estimated at 100 to 1000 times higher than the background extinction rate, hence qualifying the Holocene as an extinction event.

The background extinction rate is estimated on different scales but one such scale is the lifespan of species. Apparently, on average species typically exist for 5-10 million years before going extinct, but mammal species have a higher rate as typically existing for only 1 million years.

 

(6) SILURIAN – IREVIKEN, MULDE & LAU

(433 MILLION, 427 MILLION & 424 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

And now we come to special mentions for actual minor extinction events – events that are classified as extinction events but not, ah, extinction-y enough for the Big Five (or Six). Because let’s face it – if it’s not one done by us, the one that killed dinosaurs, or the Great Dying, I mean who cares, really?

Anyway, there were these three minor extinction events during the Silurian Period – basically evolution gunning for the trilobites again. Oh – and other marine species I don’t really know.

 

(7) CARBONIFEROUS

(305 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Killing trees, I guess.

But seriously, it’s described as the Carboniferous rainforest collapse – in which rainforests fragmented and shrank from their former coverage, taking their flora and fauna with them.

 

(8) OLSON’S

(273 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Dress rehearsal earlier in the Permian Period for the Great Dying at the end – named for the person who identified the hiatus in the fossil record.

 

(9) END CAPITANIAN

(265-259 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Another dress rehearsal in the Permian Period for the Great Dying, by smaller volcanic eruptions (the Emeishan Traps) than the latter (the Siberian Traps).

 

(10) CARNIAN PLUVIAL

(234-232 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Climactic change event in the Triassic Period, with evolutionary winners and losers – among the winners were the dinosaurs.

 

(11) TOARCHIAN

(183 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Extinction event in two pulses during the Jurassic Period, with the second oceanic pulse as the larger one. Didn’t really affect the dinosaurs – or the Park.

 

(12) TITHONIAN

(145 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Another Jurassic extinction event towards the end of that period which didn’t really affect the dinosaurs or Park – minor and selective as extinction events go.

 

(13) APTIAN

(116-117 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Minor oceanic extinction event in the Cretaceous Period – didn’t really affect the dinosaurs.

 

(14) CENOMANIAN-TURONIAN

(93-94 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Minor oceanic extinction event in the Cretaceous Period. Didn’t really affect the dinosaurs – look, you need an asteroid for that.

 

(15) EOCENE-OLIGOCENE

(33.4-33.9 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

“Large-scale extinction and floral and faunal turnover, although it was relatively minor in comparison to the largest mass extinctions” – in the Age of Mammals but mammals didn’t seem to be much affected.

 

(16) MIDDLE MIOCENE

(14 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Minor extinction event of terrestrial and aquatic life from global cooling in, you guessed it, the middle of the Miocene Epoch – more a disruption than an event, hence its alternative title of the Middle Miocene disruption.

 

 

(17) PLIOCENE-PLEISTOCENE

(2 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Apparently also known as the Local Extinction Bubble, hypothesized as a spike in extinction for some marine life from supernovae disrupting the ozone layer. Wait a minute – when did megalodon become extinct? (Spoiler – earlier, at about 3.6 million years ago)

 

 

(18) EXTINCTION MASCOT – DODO

 

Dead as a dodo.

Okay, I admit this isn’t really an extinction event, at least for everything else that wasn’t a dodo – it sure was an extinction event for them. As I quipped for human extinction, when you’re the one going extinct, the extinction rate is 100%.

In a sense, though, it was an extinction event for more than just the dodos. This poor flightless bird in the remote island of Mauritius had the unfortunate, unenviable and ultimately unrivalled distinction of becoming an extinction mascot – iconic of our human-driven Holocene Extinction. I suppose becoming extinct so dramatically will do that.

“The extinction of the dodo less than a century after its discovery called attention to the previously unrecognised problem of human involvement in the disappearance of entire species” – the dodo “has since become a fixture in popular culture, often as a symbol of extinction and obsolescence”.

 

(19) DECLINE IN AMPHIBIAN & INSECT POPULATIONS

 

The poster children of the ongoing Holocene Extinction, not least with respect to their own entries in Wikipedia.

I first became aware of the decline in amphibian populations from David Attenborough’s Life in Cold Blood, in which he attributed it to global warming, with their vulnerability in marked contrast to reptile populations.

I became aware of the decline in insect populations from reports of the decline of insect pollinators – no, not the bees! – and of the anecdotal windscreen phenomenon, as in fewer insects smeared on windscreens.

Lack of high profile attention has been attributed to the “comparative lack of charismatic species of insects” (as opposed to mammals and birds) but the insects most affected ARE the charismatic ones – bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, dragonflies and damselflies. (Cue the pun about damsels in distress). I mean, could it not be the insects people don’t like, such as flies or mosquitoes?!

And if we’re going to have a decline in insect populations, could we at least have a matching arachnid one?!

 

 

(20) FERTILITY DECLINE (STERILE INSECT TECHNIQUE)

 

I try to reserve my twentieth special mention for my kinky (or kinkier) entry where the subject permits, so I took that personally – as a challenge when it came to extinction events.

After all, I’m fond of quipping that my preferred cause of death would be from s€xual exhaustion, so why not expand that on a grand scale to cause of extinction? Ideally, extinction from s€xual exhaustion? Now there’s an extinction event I can get behind.

Less extinction events, more s€xtinction events, amirite?

While I could (disturbingly) imagine other s€xtinction events, not all of them as pleasant, the contemporary decline in human fertility was the closest I got, circling back to human extinction – that or the sterile insect technique used to control insect populations. Funnily enough, I learnt of the latter through its most famous example used as a title for James Tiptree Jr’s short story “The Screwfly Solution” – as a scenario of human extinction (from alien invasion).