Recent Comments

1. 6 days ago on Frazz

   Oh, no—over on Doonesbury today, we’re examining the Wile E. Coyote v. Road Runner dynamic. The first question is, do the characters in Frazz (or, maybe just Caulfield) have the Cartoon Consitiution, or not?

   Caulfield will likely wind up with limbs poking out of the remnants of an avalanche at unlikely angles…but tomorrow he’ll be fine, where you and I would be dead.

2. 6 days ago on Doonesbury

   What ‘Ol Wile E. Never figured out—despite being a “Sooooper genius”—was that he would stop getting mangled if only he gave up on the quest for Road Runner.

   Then again, maybe he did know. Giving up the quest would also mean giving up being a legendary archetype for all time. What (anti-?) hero would choose that?

3. 6 days ago on Doonesbury

   What ‘Ol Wile E. Never figured out—despite being a “soooper genius”—was that all the different ways he kept getting mangled would stop, if only he gave up on the quest for Road Runner.

   But then, he wouldn’t be a legendary archetype, would he?

4. 15 days ago on Luann

   Or: “gap year” (or four). Fill that time with an entry-level job, or the military, or community college, or whatever.

   In retrospect, I would have benefitted from more maturity going into college, academically and romantically and socially, and probably would have had more success. So would my sons. But alas, it was too late in my own maturation to realize this, and save all of us a lot of expense and grief.

   Frankly, we all should have listened to my wife. But that puts us firmly in wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey territory.

5. 15 days ago on Lay Lines

   Oh, behave, everybody. Take deep breaths. It’s a charming tale of a young immigrant family, assimilating right into American society: psychopathy, murder, using privilege to escape consequences. Simply adorable. :-)

   The only thing “political” might be—might!—be the suggestion of genocide in our past, simply because it brushes up against our history of racism and appropriation. (Old, white guy meekly raising his hand halfway, here.)

   Whether one believes that suggestion to be true or not has, unfortunately, become a question of “my team—your team,” rather than something left to the historians to discover and then report/teach in a factual way. As with so many other things lately, we just can’t seem to rely on evidence. That’s the real shame of it.

6. 18 days ago on Doonesbury

   Those old airline phones were built into the back of the headrest in front of you. You had to stick a credit card in a slot to pop the phone loose. When you got your card back, it was warm and the numbers had kinda melted!

   The first cell phone I used was mounted in a motor home that the boss had converted into a mobile “Clinic On Wheels,” or COW. It was painted in black and white spots, and did a regular route each week to do checkups and vaccinations and such in poor neighborhoods. I needed the phone to call-in prescriptions to the pharmacy. That was…1994. Yeah.

7. 19 days ago on Pearls Before Swine

   When I use that emoji, I’m trying to convey “Namaste.” Which, as I understand it, means “that which is sacred in me recognizes and honors that which is sacred in you.” I have some rather strident relatives who think I’m sending prayers, and I’m okay with that. If it comes up, I’ll share my belief system with them. Otherwise, it’s close enough.

8. 21 days ago on MythTickle

   Ditto, El Jefe, as I sit here awaiting the Pacific Standard Time sunrise.

   Reminds me of a day in my youth. I was a EMT student, riding along in an ambulance to get my certification. My friend Larry and I were putting a new sheet on the gurney, on a cold, early AM after running calls all night. I noticed the horizon was getting lighter. “Hey, Larry—sun’s coming up. I haven’t seen a sunrise in a long time.”

   Says Larry, “yeah, and if we hurry we can miss it!”

9. 25 days ago on MythTickle

   Agree with you, Eddi, there’s no place for that kind of cruelty in this day and age. But did you (and others) know that getting your spurs meant you had been Knighted. I can understand Dudley’s excitement, even if he will just use them as a new way to be “a tool.”

   So, is the horse’s blanket, with that little yellow whatsit over the tail, supposed to evoke Eeyore? El Jefe puts so much detail and little gags in these…it’s hard to tell, sometimes.

   Oh! Last thing! What’s the horse’s name? Anyone? Anyone?

10. 30 days ago on MythTickle

    “Magnavox” and “Oster?” Wow! Those names are blasts from the past!