I’ve been meaning to run this on the blog since forever — artist Lee Hardcastle’s brief, brilliant 2012 send-up of John Carpenter’s 1982 masterpiece, “The Thing.”  (It is also a claymation parody of the European children’s program, “Pingu.”  Please note, however, that the video below is NOT for children.)

Even if the animation method is crude, this is damned creative stuff — in addition to being blackly funny, according to your tastes in humor.  This went viral when it was released, and I believe it fully deserves its online fame.

Is it weird if I’d never heard of “Pingu” before this video?  I have friends who certainly recall it.  Maybe it was just a European thing.  Or maybe it’s an example of “The Mandela Effect.”  I am very much an 80’s kid, and I swear I cannot remember that “Oregon Trail” computer game either.