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daily journal
Mallett Trying to Keep Up Nice try Mallett, but you have miles to go before you get to Pastis levels.  Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 11:16 AM | permanent link
What Else Are Unicorns Good For? Heather mocks the frequency at which I re-post Pearls Before Swine strips in my own blog, but I don['t care. The strip is genius.  Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 4:02 PM | permanent link
Don't Kill the Dream  Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 12:33 PM | permanent link
What Happened to Jack's Cow Someone finally clues us in on what happened after Jack traded his cow for some beans.  Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 12:47 PM | permanent link
Why Can't They All Be Like Watterson?  There is plenty of interesting tidbits in the short Q&A session, but this is the part that I found the most interesting. "It's always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, 10 or 20 years, the people now 'grieving' for Calvin and Hobbes would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them. ... I think some of the reason Calvin and Hobbes still finds an audience today is because I chose not to run the wheels off it."Now I can't expect all comic strip creators to have the talent and unique voice of someone like Bill Watterson, but is it too much to ask that they have at least some of his artistic integrity? He probably is right. If he had produced Calvin and Hobbes strips for another 5 or 10 years and "run the wheels of it", I would be cursing that strip like I do tired and uninspired strips like Cathy and Beetle Bailey. (Though I honestly can't image ever hating Calvin and Hobbes) Luckily he did not do that, and left when he knew he had said everything he wanted to say with the characters. Now I wish some of those other comic strip creators who call Watterson an inspiring talent would follow his example and step aside for "fresher, livelier talent." Labels: comic strips, Rant posted by Brendan | 9:48 AM | permanent link
Funnies for the Morning I didn't get to read yesterday's Pearl Before Swine until this morning. It's not as funny as this one, but Pastis still works the pun for everything he can. I love it.  Labels: comic strips, Funny posted by Brendan | 9:14 AM | permanent link
Dick Tracy by Joe Staton Joe Staton is one of the many artists who have contributed work for a charity art auction taking place this month. Based on his rendering of Dick Tracy, I would love to see a Dick Tracy comic handled by Staton.  Then again, anything would be an improvement to the insufferable pencilings of Dick Locher. Labels: art, comic strips, Rant posted by Brendan | 4:56 PM | permanent link
One of These Doesn't Belong The US Post Office announced their special stamp issues for 2010. The release that caught my attention was the one planned for this summer that will feature comic strips. Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace, Archie and Friends, Calvin & Hobbes, and finally Garfield.  Archie is a classic comic character better known for his comic book incarnations than comic strip appearances, but I guess I can let that slide. (Though after comparing the Archie comic strips being produced today against the Archie comic books being published today, I think its best we ignore Archie�s comic strip existence.) Calvin & Hobbes is a one of the great, enduring pieces of comic strip art that is superb not only for the life and creativity that Bill Watterson brought to the form, but also because he understood that the time comes when you said your part and you need to leave the stage. But Garfield? It�s a comic strip that was intentionally designed and produced for the greatest licensing potential. There was little sense of creation because the artist loved the medium. Jim Davis saw an opportunity and aggressively (and very successfully) built a licensing empire on the back of fat orange cat. I hate Garfield, and I hate that it is included in this collection of stamps. Labels: comic strips, Rant posted by Brendan | 12:43 PM | permanent link
The Evolution of the Computer  1) Sometimes I think life would be simpler if computers weren't in them. 2) Happy that in the next month we will be jumping from #3 to #5 on this evolution chart of computers And then when I go back and read this post I realize what a screwed up head I have. Labels: Apple, comic strips posted by Brendan | 12:49 PM | permanent link
Ain't it the Truth These negotiations start shortly after Thanksgiving in our house and run all the way til Christmas Eve.  Labels: Christmas, comic strips posted by Brendan | 10:29 AM | permanent link
Mark Your Calendars You'll want to remember the day Ziggy finally wore pants.  Thank you, Mr. Pastis, for making the world a better place. Labels: comic strips, Funny posted by Brendan | 10:57 AM | permanent link
Getting Closer At least Ziggy has found his pants. Maybe next week he will wear them.  I guess they had to work up to getting Ziggy's pants. Couldn't just have him suddenly appear wearing something on his bottom half. Didn't want to shock the loyal Ziggy readers after all this time running around semi-nude. Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 12:04 PM | permanent link Procrastination Perfected  Labels: comic strips, Fun posted by Brendan | 10:30 AM | permanent link
Rat Lied To Us! From today's Pearl Before Swine  But this is today's Ziggy  According to Pastis, Rat's protest efforts should have paid off and we were to see Ziggy in pants today. But today's pants-less Ziggy hints at that fact that there may be another force out there tampering with Ziggy's pants. Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 12:41 PM | permanent link
My Kind of Cause  Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 1:56 PM | permanent link
I Like Arthur's Style  Labels: Christmas, comic strips posted by Brendan | 9:35 AM | permanent link
Eat at Evita's Sunday's Pearl's Before Swine is groan-inducing, but I love the lengths at which Stephan Pastis will go to sell his pun.  Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 11:55 AM | permanent link
Nate Must Have a Tiny Bat It sure sounds like Nate's friend Francis dropped a funny double entendre at the end of Sunday's edition of Big Nate.  I wonder how the traditionally tight-assed syndicate censors let that one through? They were probably distracted with the lengthy and detailed baseball analogy that Nate weaved in the panels leading up to the punchline. Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 6:31 PM | permanent link
Preach It!  Labels: comic strips, Funny posted by Brendan | 12:00 PM | permanent link
It's What Heather Wears  Labels: comic strips, Funny posted by Brendan | 8:42 AM | permanent link
Venn Diagrams for Relationships Sheldon captures relationships perfectly in his "Venn Diagrams for Relationships" strip today.  The strip is too large to re-publish here. Click through and read the whole thing. Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 8:33 AM | permanent link
I Don't Drink Coffee, Thanks I know I post a Pearls Before Swine comic here about once a week, but I just can't help it. The guy is fantastic.  Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 1:42 PM | permanent link
Being An Adult Sometimes this is exactly how I feel - like I'm pretending to be an adult.  via xkcdLabels: comic strips, Observation posted by Brendan | 11:10 AM | permanent link
Crushed Like Crackers in a Fat Man's Bed It's my new favorite phrase.  Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 1:07 PM | permanent link
Something To Think About  Labels: comic strips, Fun posted by Brendan | 9:07 AM | permanent link
Monkey Underwear Solves Everything! I can't argue with Pig's reasoning.  Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 9:52 PM | permanent link
Just as Good as Saying "Bless You"  Makes sense to me. In response to someone sneezing, why not invoke the name of the man who sneezes with his eyes open. Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 12:06 PM | permanent link
Hopefully You Stop the Car First Usually I would leave the job of mocking horrible comics to The Comics Curmudgeon, but this one was too good to pass up.  As a grown man, if your idea of taunting is to stick you thumbs behind your head and smile big, then you deserve whatever is coming to you.Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 11:03 AM | permanent link
Comics Making Fun of Comics I�m not certain, but I�m pretty sure Stephan Pastis is taking a jab at Frazz creator, Jeff Mallet, in today�s Pearl Before Swine.  Over the last eighteen months Frazz has become one of my favorite newspaper comic strips. I feel that Mallet has found his voice in the strip and is now consistently turning out a funny, thoughtful, and at times insightful and challenging, comic strip. Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 1:05 PM | permanent link
Sacre Bleu! The joke in today�s Sheldon isn�t particularly funny. In fact it�s pretty lame. But I loves me some fake � bad � French accents played for laughs and I am old enough to remember some of the Jacques Cousteau TV specials that today�s strip pulls some of its inspiration from.  And that's what made me laugh today. Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 9:23 PM | permanent link
And I Don't Even Like Pepsi Cola Not only is Stephan Pastis comic Pearls Before Swine brilliantly funny, but the guy's blog can be equally as fantastic. I am disturbed by mindless conformity to long-held traditions. And I am determined to change them. Mr. Pastis is my new favorite person. Labels: comic strips, Fun posted by Brendan | 12:42 PM | permanent link
Take That, Mr. Recession! There is a certain logic to it . . .  Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 8:41 AM | permanent link
Heather Would Smash My Potatoes Remember last week when I brought up the Pearls Before Swine comic and poked fun at how I might handle a similar situation. Well the wife kidnapping storyline came to its conclusion today, and I imagine it would end in similar fashion for me.  Pearls Before Swine has become my favorite strip being published currently. It is well written, well drawn, focused in its approach, and displays an overall creative energy that is lacking in many current comic strips. Labels: comic strips, Family, Fun posted by Brendan | 4:54 PM | permanent link
5 Things I Think I don�t know what the San Francisco Giant marketing team was thinking when they rolled this slogan out, but it sure is a doozey.  Even a week a later, every time I read �Play with balls of fire� I shake my head and laugh.  Knowing that I have a long road ahead of me, I�ve already started telling Heather that I want to buy a motorcycle. Even though I figure that I won�t have time to really ride and enjoy a motorcycle for about ten years, I need to start working my argument now in order to wear her down enough that I could pull the trigger on that sort of purchase in the next seven or eight years. (Economy and college tuition willing) I need to figure out if the Can-Am is cool or totally dorky in case I want to work it into my argument. The more I look at it the more I'm coming down on the side of totally dorky.  Before  After  A few years ago Get Fuzzy was the popular strip, even won a Reuben Award in 2002, but now it feels like Conley keeps re-hashing the same jokes over and over � usually dragging them on (badly) for days. Even when you think he might be trying something different, like last week when he started the story with the ghost hunters; it only ended up as way to bring the terminally un-funny Manc back into the strip for some more tired bad accent jokes. And this week we're back to monkey jokes. Move on or get off the page. Don't turn into Garfield. Labels: 5 Things I Think, comic strips, DC, Fun, Sports posted by Brendan | 1:26 PM | permanent link
Finally, Someone Understands  I�ve been ranting about how disgusting dudes wearing sandals are for years and always get quizzical looks from people when they hear my arguments against male sandal wearing. Now I can tell them I�m not the only one who is disgusted by the sight of a man in sandals, there�s also a talking . . . .duck . . . . inna online . . . . comic . . . that shares my . . . . Ah, damn, people are still gonna look at me funny when I talk about this, aren�t they? Labels: comic strips, oddities, Rant posted by Brendan | 12:34 PM | permanent link
Hey. It's a Joke If Heather ever happened to be kidnapped - not that I want that to happen, but let's just pretend for a moment that it did - I can imagine there being a scene at our house not unlike what occurred in today's Pearl Before Swine.  And that's only because I like messin' with my kids' heads. Labels: comic strips, Family, Fun posted by Brendan | 10:24 PM | permanent link
Hookah King Something about the last panel of today's Pearl Before Swine struck me as particularly funny.  I don't like to deconstruct or over-analyze humor, but I think in this case it all came down to perfect timing on Stephan Pastis' part. He balances the pacing of the three panel comic strip perfectly - dialogue, characters, scenery - to deliver a great joke. I wish more comic strip creators had some of Pastis' skill. Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 10:01 AM | permanent link
Perils of Time Travel If, for a moment, we accept it as true, then today�s Wondermark makes dealing with the people hanging around the train station asking for money so they can get back home a lot more interesting.  Labels: comic strips posted by Brendan | 12:22 PM | permanent link
Watchmen Stuff For the most part I have been ignoring all the build up to the Watchmen movie release today. I've been quietly re-reading the book at home and waiting for the reviews to roll in. Don't know if it was done to capitalize on or mock the hype surrounding the opening of the Watchmen movie, but all week PVP has been doing a parody of the Watchmen called Ombudsmen using syndicated newspaper comic strip characters. I thought the concept was clever and well executed; especially how Scott Kurtz adapted the main storyline to fit his parody. His casting was also spot-on. It�s a funny read. Worth your time.  As for the film - the reviews for the film have been mixed. The Chicago Tribune�s Michael Phillips hated it. The Chicago Sun-Times� Roger Ebert loved it. Everyone else seems to falling into one of those two camps. Personally, I am ambivalent to the movie. I love the book immensely. It�s one of my top five favorite comics and I�ve always shared Watchmen writer Alan Moore�s assertion that the book cannot be made into a movie. Plus, I was less than enthralled with Watchmen director Zack Synder�s uninspired film interpretation of Frank Miller�s 300. None the less, it would be interesting to see for myself how things turned out. Labels: comic strips, Comics, DC, movies posted by Brendan | 4:31 PM | permanent link
At Least He's Crossing His Legs I don�t think Mr. Dithers is wearing any pants in today�s episode of Blondie.  I guess the stress of not only having Dagwood as your employee but also having to socialize with him is starting to take its toll.Labels: comic strips, Fun posted by Brendan | 4:36 PM | permanent link
Am I Too Busy Chasing Zebras? Today's Pearls Before Swine made me feel like a bad dad.  I hope I'm not spending too much time worrying about the zebras I'm not killing. Labels: comic strips, Family posted by Brendan | 10:44 PM | permanent link The Revolution Will Be In Kilts  I often find myself having similar thoughts that Gramp expresses in last Sunday's Sheldon. Certainly the shifting world economy and political climate is leveling the power across the globe.While I agree with Arthur (the talking duck) that I don't see anyone out there ready to take America's spot on top I don't think he should be worried about some small nation upstart coming out of no where to dominate. However, if Arthur is right, then I'm glad that I've been pushing the Scottish heritage of my "McKillip" surname all these years - despite my father objections otherwise.  It should help score me a choice role in the new government.Plus, kilts for everyone. Labels: comic strips, Fun posted by Brendan | 10:23 PM | permanent link
His Name Ain't "Sometimes Cookie Monster"  My initial reaction to reading Sunday�s installment of Sheldon was, "No, he must have some of his information wrong. No way they would do that to Cookie Monster."But a brief scan through Cookie Monster�s Wikipedia entry backs Sheldon�s statement up � at least the part about Cookie Monster promoting healthy eating. He still eats cookies, but now they are a "sometimes food." I always take whatever I read on Wikipedia with a healthy dose of skepticism, but there are enough outside citations to confirm the fact that Cookie Monster has indeed abandoned his pro-cookie agenda. This startling revelation makes the Cookie Monster DVD Zoe brought home from the library this past week so much more fun - and important - to watch. The DVD collects classic sketches starring Cookie Monster at his anarchy-producing best; before he became a soul-less tool of the establishment forced into teaching children the sort of responsibility and moderation they should be getting from their parents. I would hate for Zoe to grow up thinking Cookie Monster thought cookies are a "sometimes food." Labels: comic strips, Family, Fun, Rant posted by Brendan | 10:30 AM | permanent link
Mystery Revealed Kevin - I finally figured out why we have those pictures of your sitting in a bucket as a kid.  You were just preparing for the end of the world.Labels: comic strips, Fun posted by Brendan | 8:53 AM | permanent link
Good Use of Materials Heather - why don't we make cookies like this at home? I'm sure we could get creative with materials.  I'm going to try and work in the phrase, "shvitzing blue sprinkles" into a conversation today. Labels: Christmas, comic strips posted by Brendan | 12:34 PM | permanent link |
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