CSotD: A Break in the Inaction
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Macanudo (KFS) offers an uplifting thought, and we could all use one about now.
There is a kind of conceptual collision between the saying “Curiosity killed the cat” and the semifolkloric belief that they possess nine lives. Well, a cat may look at a king and also become fascinated by a laser, and the ability to be distracted is tightly linked to the ability to be inspired. Also love and marriage go together like soup and sandwich, but I digress.
I’ve seen a few thought-provoking cartoons about the Buffalo shooting, and a lot more predictable ones, in keeping with my prediction that it’s hard to come up with something on the topic that hasn’t already been said a thousand times, so I’m going to let the whole thing simmer for a bit while we chase a laser around the room with a bit of a comedy break.
And speaking of simmering, Half Full (AMS) makes me think not of the need to take time hunting for exotic ingredients but the time spent wading through somebody’s personal reflections on the recipe trying to get to the part where she finally tells us what to set the oven for and how long it’s going to take to cook.
Back in the Good Old Days, there was Alicia Bay Laurel’s Living on the Earth, which was full of personal reflections, but (A) they were interesting and (B) they were relevant and (C) it was easy to skip ahead to the actual recipe. I think this was where most of us learned to make granola and I know it was where most of us first encountered the notion of eating placenta and we mostly only did one of those, but it was all fascinating.
Meanwhile, over at PBS, there was Julia Child, who was like an eccentric aunt who made everything fascinating even if you had no intention of searching for Bombay duck in the dried fish aisle at your local A&P so you could follow her painstaking recipes for whatever the hell it was we needed Bombay duck for.
Point being that nobody is as fascinating as either of those people and, besides, I look at recipes for ideas, not instructions and thank god most recipe websites have a thing you can click on to skip the balderdash and get to the ingredients, oven temp and cooking time.
I say that knowing there are people who come here to skim the comics and never read the brilliant commentary.
Juxtaposition of the Day
I’m re-learning how to make pizza. I already had the basics, but since I learned them working in a restaurant, having to cut quantities and make up for the lack of specialized equipment led to some unsatisfactory pies and I’d given it up.
However, since I now live near King Arthur (seen here as depicted by Charles Robinson for this relevant poem), it seemed worth checking out their instructions and, while they didn’t tell me their life stories, they did tell me how to make a pretty good pie in a pretty average kitchen and it’s a whole lot easier than my previous attempts.
As for my life story, my junior year in college, I lived across the street from a pizza place run by a couple from Naples and learned what really good pizza is like.
It did not involve pineapple nor Canadian bacon. I’d rather get a slice from those vultures.
Juxtaposition of the Day #2
I didn’t drink much in those days, mostly because, in a 21 state, it was easier to score dope than beer, while hanging out in bars and hitting on strange women was for jocks. So it’s not — Lord knows — that I never made a fool of myself in public but that, when I did, I rarely needed Alka-Seltzer in the morning.
Cartoon History: The now common gag about dogs drinking out of toilets was started by Mike Peters for Mother Goose and Grimm, and was a breakthrough topic at the time. He tells of a letter to the editor from an outraged reader who was concerned that dogs would see the cartoon and begin drinking out of the toilet themselves.
Anyway, I like to read this pair as a continuing story, the joke being that the French poodles let him buy them drinks until the bar closed, but he ended up going home alone. Again.
In the words of Shelly Berman, “Oh my god, don’t fizz!”
Continuing this theme of vain regret, Candorville (WPWG) explores the world of scabdrivers, which would probably tie in better with the collapse of cryptocurrency if the pain weren’t spread across a wider continuing range of people who think it’s going to work.
It’s more in line with people who wind up with closets full of beauty products they bought from the next guy up the pyramid and will never, ever be able to sell or people who spend time and money obtaining a real estate license only to discover that the people who succeed in that business put in 60 hour weeks and couldn’t pick their families out of a police lineup.
I strongly suspect that the people who make money at Uber would do just as well driving for a real cab company where the car and the insurance and the $4.50-a-gallon gas are part of the deal, not part of the drawbacks. Assuming there are any real cab companies left.
I also strongly suspect that Clyde isn’t the only person who would tell me I’m wrong.
Finally, on the topic of dubious good ideas, Agnes (Creators) is exploring pets, which reminded me of when I used to see Japanese cricket cages, more as art than as practical household items.
You can keep them as pets, though they live, at best, a year and perhaps only a few weeks. Which may be as long as something that makes noise all night is amusing.
PetsWebMD seems pragmatic, if not downright cynical, on the topic:
My suggestion: If you’re going to feed them to your gecko, don’t give them names.
And be aware that your children may begin imitating them:
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