Jeff Stahler (AMS) taps into something that occurred to me during the game. A lot of what they were advertising was of little interest to me, but I also had a sense of “been there, seen that” as creative ideas seemed replaced by celebrity cameos. Celebrity cameos were once a delightful surprise because they only […]
Ivan Turgenev’s On the Eve is one of my favorite novels, but it bombed in Russia when it was published in 1859, in large part because it was dismissive of effete student idealists who talked reform and accomplished nothing, as one of them admitted: Plus ca change, baby, though I’d suggest that Jeff Danziger (Counterpoint) […]
Offer to make dinner. Offer to rub her shoulders. Just don’t offer advice. You’re stepping on a rake. Daddy’s Home (Creators) demonstrates something I learned from Deborah Tannen’s 1986 book, That’s Not What I Meant, an analysis of men’s and women’s conversational styles that has since been echoed and confirmed, though mostly by other feminist […]
On the topic of things you shouldn’t have to be told, Gary Varvel (Creators) depicts a kid gleefully heading off to the College of His Choice, leaving a pair of apparently bankrupt parents behind. He’s got a point, given that the kid is headed for State U and not Rich Kid Private Emporium, because even […]
Patrick Blower isn’t the only one roped in by an international fraud. The notion that kids were “identifying” as animals began with an intentional lie in this country some years ago and, when it resurfaced last summer, it was almost immediately slapped down as transphobic propaganda. There were no kids who thought they were cats, […]
I don’t know how things are working in Ireland, but the couple in this Graeme Keyes cartoon would have to die quickly if they were Americans. The soaring prices of housing have, indeed, barred many people from homeownership, though much of it is the massive chunk of change required for a down payment. But I’d […]
Maria Scrivan — whom I will see in a day or two at CXC — offers a funny/not funny Half Full, the kind where first you laugh and then you sink into a reverie. Oh, honey, nobody reads the terms and conditions. Well, except for Robert Sikoryak, who found a way to make Apple’s […]
In my defense, unlike Wallace the Brave (AMS), I’m retired and don’t have to know what day it is. The post office is closed from noon Saturday until Monday, which is when the Chinese restaurants and barber shops are closed. That’s about it. Now that I’m retired, I don’t get a haircut very often and, […]
Tomorrow is World Press Freedom Day, and, as Ann Telnaes notes, it couldn’t come a moment too soon, a point made at Saturday’s WHCA Dinner but largely lost in coverage of Joe Biden and Trevor Noah’s remarks. Much as I despise the event, both Biden and Noah delivered some great material, not, perhaps, as incisive […]
We’ll start with something non-controversial: A compliment to Dave Whamond not because this particular Reality Check (AMS) put me on the floor but because it suggests he has actually played Wordle. There is an obligation, before you mock something or even simply riff on it, to understand it. Bob Hope told of going down Rodeo […]
Pearls Before Swine (AMS) sets the mood for the day. Rat seems to have caught on to the fact that confrontation simply doesn’t work in a world in which team loyalty is more important than logic. Pat Byrnes (Cagle) is right: The current crop of Republicans would absolutely reject Abraham Lincoln’s stances, though they’re […]
My first impression of today’s Barney & Clyde (WPWG) was that Barney had, indeed, been taken, since most coats of arms are bogus. Having “Arms” at all is, as he says, up to the Heralds’ College, but I looked and, by golly, there is indeed a set of arms for Pillsbury that looks like what he’s […]
Joel Pett lays out the litany of hate Americans are exposed to on a regular basis and ends by portraying one of the innocent victims of this toxic bile. I can’t be the only person who has so curated his social media and learned to avoid hatemongering broadcasters that I’m not bombarded with this garbage, […]
I’m with Wiley on this Non Sequitur (AMS). It’s nice and peaceful at this moment, but it seems another dose of chaos is probably just around the corner. So, yes, be grateful for peaceful moments, such as they are. “Such as they are” based on the current state of social media. I think we’ve become […]
I’m not necessarily standing behind anything today, but I’m promoting the idea of doing your damn homework, so I got a laugh out of Ann Telnaes’ reaction to a new federal policy cutting back on people working at home rather than at a desk in an office. As she notes, Dear Leader is more […]