As this Lenten avoiding-political-cartoons things progresses, I'm finding how hard it is to draw the line, not simply because so many strips specifically include politics, but because even the ones that don't -- like today's Daddy's Home -- take on a political spin when your feed is suddenly full of conspiracy theories based on Scalia's body being found with the pillow over his face.
Which it wasn't, but what the hell difference does that make?
The problem isn't drawing the line between political and apolitical. The problem is where to draw the line between "truly stupid" and outright "screwy."
And this doesn't help:
Yesterday, NPR's Wade Goodwyn posted a story about the conspiracy theories based on two examples, one of which (perhaps upon examination by somebody who had not stumbled over the Internet for the first time just that morning) turned out to be an obvious parody site.
First, he posted a tiny correction at the bottom, acknowledging his fatuous gullibility. Then he re-wrote the story to incorporate the fact that his report was not based on facts.
Straight from the Pee-Wee Herman "I meant to do that!" school of journalism.
Anyway
Pardon My Planet isn't political today.
Though you have to have an appetite for a sort of existentialist gallows humor to find it humorous, which I have and which I did.
Alas, if Peter Mann had only posted one in his ongoing "Boy Giant and Beckett" series this morning, I'd have had a Juxtaposition of the Day.
In lieu of an existentialist Juxtaposition, this solipsistic one:
The other day, I mentioned that young people don't mind hearing about the Good Old Days as long as it isn't intended to improve them, which, in a shamelessly self-referential way, makes this pair a juxtaposition.
Brad Diller's panel demonstrates the deadening impact of "When I was your age" lectures, but Whamond's brings to mind a good way to tell if your children are raising your grandchildren properly.
The test being whether this old schoolyard chestnut provokes eye-rolls or giggles:
Mary had a little lamb,
Some lobster and some prunes,
A glass of milk, a piece of pie,
And then some macaroons.
It made the naughty waiters grin
To see her order so,
And when they carried Mary out,
Her face was white as snow.
A gifted child will respond with the current version, but one ought not to hope for so much.
Giggles will suffice.
Adult Humor
Arlo and Janis touches on an ongoing issue in my world. I have boxes of books under my bed just in case one of them unexpectly becomes relevant.
I envy people who maintain a clutter-free life, but it's like envying people who can run three miles every morning. Even if it were in my nature, my feet and knees would last less than a week, which I know from painful experience. The discipline was easy to get on board, the bursa sacs less so.
Same thing with those who live clutter-free. I don't so much "envy" them as look upon them with wonder.
If only it were that painless for everyone.
Speaking of whom
Jef Mallett runs or cycles every day, and generally a great deal more than three miles, a fact that has made him an occasional comic figure in Pearls Before Swine.
Or perhaps the character is just a coincidence. Surely, Pastis wouldn't single out a fellow cartoonist.
Anyway, his commitment to fitness gives today's Frazz a slight flavor of coach-shaming, but a coach should be in good shape, after all, just as an English teacher should have the aforementioned houseful of books.
My high school wrestling coach always did our calisthenics with us, which we appreciated. We also understood why we didn't do a lot of calisthenics on Monday, but it would have been far worse if he'd stood in the middle of the mat blowing his whistle at us.
Frazz has been on a roll lately. I always enjoy it, but Mallett has definitely not been standing in the middle of the mat blowing his whistle in recent weeks.
Getting it
Kevin and Kell hits upon a particularly annoying piece of web garbage, the stupid ad that doesn't simply block the page but moves it around, expanding and contracting placement of the text, making it almost impossible to read.
If "content is king," web designers haven't gotten the message.
It's a mindset, like people who don't exercise or can't live clutter-free, and I've worked with too many design people who simply don't read and don't care about content as long as it looks good in the layout. I accept their nature, I dislike the self-satisfaction.
The layout people I've enjoyed working with the most admitted their lack of interest. They focused on making what was there look great, but deferred to the writers about content.
That's how a well-run operation works: You don't have to understand each piece, but you should acknowledge -- whether by insight or under orders -- that each is there for a reason.
Having a nurse or two in the family, I've seen this piece on Facebook about an Intensive Care physician who spent a day doing what the nurses in the ICU do, and what an eye-opener it was for him.
But the ones who will do this are the ones who least need to.
I had a publisher with whom I shared the frustration of trying to find ways to get employees to take the tour of the paper that I gave school classes and other visitors.
Some of them were shown around when they were hired, by their supervisor, who had never taken the tour and had little idea what happened in other parts of the building.
Many others had never been anywhere but their desk, the break room and the restroom.
The publisher, as our industry imploded, was "offered" early retirement, and her replacement shared no such foolish notions.
Perhaps she and I were missing the point.
Ah, a scene from “The Point” one of my favorite cartoon movies from when I was a kid.
Neat illustration style, funny, the story had a “point” and of course that great Harry Nilsson music.
Posted by: Richard John Marcej | 02/17/2016 at 03:59 PM
Apparently Daddy's Home steals from the greats:
"To be stupid, selfish and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost."
- Gustave Flaubert
Posted by: Mark Jackson | 02/17/2016 at 04:14 PM
Interesting mental image of Rubino and Markstein reading Flaubert, Henry James and maybe Anatole France saying, "Wait! We can use this!"
Posted by: Mike Peterson | 02/17/2016 at 05:54 PM