Obesity has become a real problem in this country; we all know that. I’ve heard a lot of theories about why that is. Some of them make sense, but I have my own theory that I haven’t heard voiced elsewhere. I believe people began getting fatter in direct proportion to the length of commercial breaks on television. Think about it! We all have to do something to fill the one-third of airtime that is now devoted to advertisements. Makes sense to me.
I didn’t say anything about the passing of Robin Williams yesterday, because it was news to me when I was updating this page. I just didn’t know much. Plus, I knew there’d be a lot said by others, and I was right. There was a third reason, maybe. I didn’t want to make any comment that might be construed as negative at such a time. That comment would have been: I have always thought Robin Williams was best as a dramatic actor. Of course, that isn’t a negative thing to say, but with so many emphasizing his original and frenetic approach to comedy, I just didn’t see going into it. Also, let us remember Betty Bacall, who left us yesterday.
334 responses to “Back after This…”
The riots in St. Louis/Ferguson, MO are horrible and destructive.
I know cartoons are drawn and scheduled weeks before they appear but given the serious riots which are protesting excessive force and police brutality in MO it might have been better to switch cartoons.
Yes, I think it is funny and yes, I knew it referred to an old movie line but was it in good taste to run it? I know I am not always politically correct so who am I to second guess anyone?
And no, I am not sympathetic to any rioters, in Attica or on the streets.
And yes, I think 9CL has totally lost it, the plot that is. They can use the excuse that Bill the Cat ate it, like they do on Opus. That might be why he allows no discussion? Who cares what the reader thinks?
Love, Jackie Monies
GR6: Good one!
Jackie, I think Brooke is tinkering with time. The German soldier mentions Martine Cloquer shooting him in both ears, which is what happened to her former lover. A memory, perhaps?
And, I heartily agree that today’s A&J is in bad taste. I realize that JJ prolly submitted it weeks ago, but somebody at the syndicate should have caught it. And, sorry, JJ, I don’t think it was in good taste to start off with (I have already mentioned loathing “Dog Day Afternoon”)
My small town bank where my family has banked for about 100 years lost an employee and the branch manager to a crazed teenager holding them hostage and then killing them. It is a town of about 1300 people at best. One hostage was released, the gunman was shot by police and all three died because a teen thought he could take a bank hostage, as he did.
I doubt this kid ever heard of Al Pacino and this movie but they are certainly watching what is going on in MO right now I’d bet.
I knew all involved, even the kid’s family who came to America to seek freedom from stuff like this where they were born.
Not saying we can stop riots or hostage taking with censors but I don’t think we should glorify any of this stuff.
And I am with Ghost on the Mozart. Found this great Youtube site with 10 hours of Mozart and discovered – WOWZER! I can play it under whatever I am doing and listen to Mozart on piano while answering mail!
Duh! Duh! Old lady learns to use Youtube maybe?
Love, Jackie Monies
I used to use YouTube for Mozart all the time before I got my iPod,Jackie. It certainly is very convenient. But, like I say, The Boss Of My Life has it blocked out at work, along with Pinterest and Instagram.
I have to retract that hostage taking teen probably never heard of Al Pacino and Attica. He was the valedictorian of his private school where his family sent him. He was an American citizen and captain of the football team.
There are times I think we are raising our own terrorists, young and educated and smart enough to do anything but they don’t.
Love, Jackie
Certainly Jimmy doesn’t need to apologize for today’s publication of a cartoon he drew some time ago. Nor do I think that anyone should have withheld it from release today. There is, after all, quite a bit of difference between a massive prison riot (a prisoner insurrection, actually) and a relatively small number of people using a tragic situation as excuse to loot and burn small businesses in a section of a Midwestern city.
It would be interesting to know, however, if the editors of any papers in the St. Louis area that carry A&J felt differently and did not print it today.
Lily, check the “sniper’s” uniform. It’s GI green, not Wehrmacht gray. That’s Kronjuwel, the double (triple?) agent who was slugged by Martine and then pulled out of Normandy by the OSI immediately following D-Day, then (what must be a day or two later) shows up back there, tramping around the countryside while the Allies consolidate their beachhead, and the Germans throw Panzer divisions against them, and managing to track down two people (one of whom he now knows is a fellow OSI agent) in the midst of all that to try to shoot them. Sure, that makes sense.
But I’m sure McEldowney will eventually draw some pretty pictures that will explain it all to us lesser intellects. 🙂
I do agree with you on the loss of plot and REALLY unbelievable “coincidence” in 9CL, I have started reading it just so I can laugh at it and it isn’t supposed to be funny.
Abrupt change of topic, husband just brought in a box of gardening stuff for me and I had a Janis moment. I buy tomatoes for next year, as tomato seed from the pyramids will probably still germinate. Golden Mama, Green Envy and Red Zebra. Love those names!
For now, Harmony spinach and Zen salad greens. Wonderland alyssum.
Since I look for peace in the dirt and green things, it was an appropriate moment to arrive.
Love, Jackie Monies
Many people adore Chs. Dickens. Brooke’s coincidences don’t come close to the glut of them in ‘David Copperfield’. Maybe other 19th century Brit and American authors are just as bad. I’m not as familiar with literary classics as I am with some other things.
Ghost, I may be ignorant about a lot of things, but comics coloration and WWII equipment are not among them. The average cartoon colorist couldn’t differentiate between khaki and feldgrau if his or her life depended on it, and that sure looks like a German sniper rifle to me.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=German+WWII+sniper+rifle&id=71859C35D151A347894B3CD1EA2ADFB50015945D&FORM=IQFRBA#view=detail&id=4F10A82C4202000BF1B957C9341E72C66B414391&selectedIndex=2
There are no insignia on that uniform, but it doesn’t look like something Joe or Willie would be caught in
It does look more like a German rifle than, say, a 1903 Springfield, but he could have picked it up after he got back to Normandy. Also, check out the brown US-style combat boots, the cartridge belt, and the non-coal scuttle helmet. And a clean uniform with no insignia would be more appropriate for an OSI agent than for a dogface.
http://www.gocomics.com/9chickweedlane/2014/06/21#.U_K2mvldWa8
And I’m fairly sure McEldowney would be too proud of his coloration skills to entrust it to anyone else.
I thought GI combat boots came no higher than the ankle (with a two-buckle strap) or were covered with leggings :p
You are correctamundo, Dearest Munchkin, but not everything McEldowney draws is all that accurately rendered. (Martine’s sidearm is to me more Luger-like than it is an exact representation of a Luger.) And Kronjuwel’s boots appear to be more GI-like than jack boot-like.
Not that the current story arc in 9CL isn’t amusing in its own way. (Heck, I’d tune in every Monday just to see how many times Martine has gotten naked during the previous week if nothing else.) It’s just that I’ve never particularly cared for deus ex machina plot turns in works of fiction. Such seems to me too much like lazy writing.
And Munchkin, if you think Faulkner was tough to read, you should have done critical analysis of his writing in college Honors English.
By the way, I enjoy conversing (?) with you here.
Hey, Jackie, I just saw Martine over on That is Priceless. Must be one of those cross-comic deals.
Good morning Villagers….
Indy Mindy. sorry, I didn’t get the chicken sedan joke….but flying the coop was good though.
You know, I did not see any association between yesterday’s real time strip to what’s going on in MO. All I thought of was Pacino’s character ranting up and down in front of the bank with a white hankie.
Jerry, I thought you meant the group Rush……..good group, interesting story behind their getting together too.
And right now, it does feel like time is standing still same chickenpoop everyday….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMSFqXGZ5TQ
We’re behind schedule at cleaning chicken coops, and we only have on door. AND it’s going to be 89 degrees today, with temps in the low 90’s the rest of the week.
=^..^=
Pokies alert, the one GR6 is referring to. But this one’s too zoftik to be Martine. Joke is also cute.
http://www.gocomics.com/that-is-priceless/#.U_MxV2d0xMs
Re: Today’s (August 19th) comic- is this the return of the “something about a peek” top?
IT people, why would the wireless network connection icon have a big X on it, when I can obviously go on the net? And the Network panel says all connections in the home group are good.
I ran the ‘troubleshoot’ option on it, and it came back with ‘what are you looking for I don’t see a problem’.
Adobe sent an update this morning. It is the only “new” thing on the machine.
Ideas? Thanks!
I used to read Pibgorn but quit when the plot got all snarled up with whatever it did. I can’t remember now. As to 9CL, I used to like it, then Edda and Angus moved to New York, and the whole thing turned into soft-core porn. As to the current story line, I’ve forgotten what started it and why.
I read yesterday’s A&J (Attica!) and immediately got the joke, and I’ve never seen the movie. Maybe some people are just a shade too politically correct.
Since we can’t discuss 9CL over there, we can here. Martine had the Luger concealed somewhere on her person. Can we speculate where? Her newly styled hair as a hairpin? Inside her bra? Naw, doesn’t wear one? Clothes show every curve, so?
About Brooke’s drawing, Lily, I am telling you, it ain’t that accurate on stuff! Especially men. He doesn’t draw men well, not even gay men, which he has a lot in the past. Everyone looks same, reason we are trying to figure out who is who. His men are all feminine looking, even the hunky ones, they are just bigger!
About coincidental plots, I always loved Oscar Wilde, who made such fun of the genre’ in his plays. There the coincidences and swinging doors and characters popping in and out were done deliberately to ridicule such plot conveniences. He laughed at others by making fun of them and the jokes are still funny today.
Babies left in valises in train stations and raised as someone else, only to find out they were in love with their own relatives, although I may be making that up? Wish I could quote one about to lose one parent being bad, but two?
This is just the same blouse on Janis, she likes the spaghetti strap tank tops, not leading up to peaking down blouse and snakes pop out. Nothing to do with Martine of course.
Love, Jackie
Good morning, Villagers. We are back early o the office as we have a meeting with somebody from the hospital (yuck!). Re: today’s A&J. I have *always* hated spaghetti straps. I mean, since I was a very young teenager and my friends started to wear them. I thought they looked tacky.
Jackie, all I can do is quote Dorothy Sayers to you: “There is all the difference in the world between somebody who cannot draw and somebody who will not draw.” (Unnatural Death}
I would count Steven Pastis and Bill Amend among those who cannot draw.