Mockingbirds must die

We all remember book reports: those dreaded assignments when we had to read the book, remember what happened and also produce some sort of diorama in a shoebox. If any of you didn’t make such a diorama, I believe you have no place in an institute of higher learning.

The Flash animation “How to Kill a Mockingbird” shows young Benny in his attempt to give a book report on “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, a book he obviously never got very far into.

Like any American junior high scholar, Benny proceeds to give his report anyway.

He starts off rambling a little about the actual plot which is funny if you have a minimum background in the book.

After that, Benny hits his groove … pirates.

You probably don’t remember, but pirates are an important literary device used by many prominent authors of Lee’s day.

After the pirates are introduced, things start getting a little ridiculous, and by ridiculous, I mean awesome. Soon an epic battle between the pirates and ninjas erupts with flaming bears used as ammunition.

I must warn, however, the humor is of a certain variety that might be described as “internet humor;” but if you like weird and wacky with a healthy dose of “sword guns that shoot swords,” you should really check it out.

“How to Kill a Mockingbird” was made by Anthony Scodary and Nico Benitez and can be found at www.stanford.edu/~scodary/tkam.htm.

Steve Shinney is a junior majoring in computer science. Comments can be sent to him steveshinney@cc.usu.