If someone actually reading your book first instead of just assuming it will be good sight unseen is all it takes for you to lose your composure...
...of course, now someone who -has- read the book and had it completely change their life is dead-set certain to turn up and lift Mike's spirits by tomorrow or Saturday. He's too much Lynn's pampered favorite to endure more than a brief period of reality.
Mike, Robin and Merrie won't care whether Stone Season sold a lot of copies. They won't care about whether it got good reviews.
They certainly won't need you to prove your "literary genius" to them.
What will they care about?
"Why is Daddy always so mean to Grandma Mira? He hates it when she gives us presents. Do we just not deserve presents?"
"Why did Daddy make us share the same bedroom even after we moved into Grandma Elly's house? Did Daddy really need another bedroom just to 'refresh his muse'?"
"Why does Daddy never play with us? Well, unless he wants to show us photo albums of himself?"
Mike, the writer who makes being a neglectful father fun! Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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Panel 1: Deanna reaches out to her husband, who's gone all emo and brooding because some people dare to not automatically assume his book is brilliant.
Pane 2: Mike lifts his eyebrow and sneers at the wall as Deanna tries to give him advice and comfort. The nerve. Who does she think she is, his wife?!? ...*...oh. Right.
Panel 3: Mike feigns sleep. Deanna smirks slightly. I get the feeling she knows he's faking.
Panel 4: Either we've had a time warp, or Mike grows stubble in a heartbeat.
Panel 5: The poor, sensitive, intelligent and theatrical genius. Nobody truly understands the depth of pain in his soul except for his beloved laptop. Suffering, sleepy, google-eyed and barely conscious as he pounds out the first-draft of Stone Season II: Stone Cold!. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
I am. Though it's far easier when Lynn's assistants are giving the lead characters some highly dubious facial expressions, time transitions and reaction shots...as they've done in this strip.
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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Is anyone else reading Mike's letters on the site and really doubting his ability to write a worthwhile novel AT ALL?
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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And is anyone else as yerked out as I am that Liz's intro on the FOOB site says she's looking to marry a guy like her dad?
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I'm not entirely sure what you mean by yerked out. If you mean you think it's gross, no not at all. If you just mean that Anthony isn't like her dad, ok.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I don't mean grossed out on a physical level. I mean on a moral/aesthetic level: Lynn is pushing Liz into that mold that will let her give Liz a quiet suburban life. Just like her parents'.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Nothing inherently. It's just dishonest to the character to say that's what Liz wants.
What Johnston seems to imply is that NOT wanting that life is a sign of youth and immaturity. Once we grow up, of course, we automatically will. For instance, Liz says she feels Anthony has matured far more than her because he has a child and owns property. Liz has done her share of things towards maturity, and has garnered a lot of experience. But it is the markers of suburban life that Johnston implies are signs of maturity and indeed validation: without a child and a house in the suburbs, you're just a kid playing around.
As someone incapable of gaining the first and preferring not to have the second, I think it's kinda gross. This next generation is being made to fit the mold of the previous. Mike and Liz are shown to be grown up by the fact that they accept their parents' values and want to live just like them, rather than showing maturity by choosing their own course in life.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I think you are reading an awful lot into "I want to marry someone like my dad" -- a sentiment that I have heard a lot of RL women express. (I don't, as it happens. I want to marry someone like my mom. )
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: I think you are reading an awful lot into "I want to marry someone like my dad" -- a sentiment that I have heard a lot of RL women express. (I don't, as it happens. I want to marry someone like my mom. )
Aye, but it's the larger scheme of what's she's started molding Liz into.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: What's wrong with a quiet suburban life?
Nothing's wrong with it, it's just that until a few years ago Liz did not want it. She showed no sign of wanting it.
Then she bizarrely gave up her rewarding, interesting work helping to educate First Nations children because "I was homesick".
Then her boyfriend Paul was forced into acting -way- out of character in order to prove that "Northern Canadians and Southern Canadians can never truly mingle" (I still can't believe I read that...but that's Lynn had her characters say)...and it was all to shoehorn her into romancing Anthony again. Her First Love. Who made a pass at her after she was almost raped and he was still married. What a prize! Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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Man...while the plan is for Mike's kidlets to be "frozen" by spring of next year, Lynn seems to be aging everyone else as quickly as she can. I half expect Elly to be in her 80s by 2008.
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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So, li'l two-year-old Francie has forced herself to grow (and in the beginning of this strip, shrink) at an accelerated rate in order to protect her dad from Liz.
It's futile, of course. Lynn decided way back in the 90s that Liz's first childhood love would be her One True Husband, and -any- bumps along the way will be dispensed in some truly convoluted, unlikely fashion.
Watch Therese spontaneously decided to visit, act mean, and send Francie off crying. Running to Liz's arms for comfort, of course. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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"Go and wait on your daughter." Wow. I know Lynn phrased Liz's remark like that just to set up the dreadful last pun...but it makes Liz seem REALLY "not ready for Francie." Francie's not even three yet. She really does -need- extra attention from her pop.
posted
You're just grasping at straws now. Some kids prefer the top bunk, and while I'd be happier if the bar were wider or reinforced, it's not terrible.
And LIZ is making a pun. And being perfectly reasonable.
Yesterday's was quite sweet. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I think the broader point is valid: why did Anthony buy a bunk bed for a single child? We've seen her bed before, back before the divorce, and it wasn't a bunk bed -- so he bought it fairly recently. Does she have sleepovers often? Does he sleep in the bottom bunk? Is he expecting a second child by someone else very soon?
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I didn't have an issue with that. If Francie actually were the 5-7 year old she's currently being drawn and written as...and she had someone to bunk with, I could see it easily.
and while I'd be happier if the bar were wider or reinforced, it's not terrible.
I didn't say it was terrible, I'm questioning the reasoning behind it.
And LIZ is making a pun.
I point to my remark: "Wow. I know Lynn phrased Liz's remark like that just to set up the dreadful last pun"
I'm not a fan of Lynn relying almost exclusively on puns these days.
And being perfectly reasonable.
Still think she could have phrased differently, YMMV. (And Lynn would've had to write a non-pun punchline. Unthinkable)
Yesterday's was quite sweet.
Full of retconning as it was. Therese has "been gone a long time"? Well, I suppose a year and change might be long enough for -some- kids to forget their mother... Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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If a Funky Winkerbean crossover were planned, and we were about to learn that Anthony is slowly dying from a degenerative muscle disease, I'd buy that. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Actually, a loft bed would be a better purchase. It saves space and kids love having a hide-out under their bed. That's what my brothers had and still not until they were older and my parents were sure they could get out safely if they needed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I actually know at least one parent that bought a bunk bed for pretty much that reason. *shrug*
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Wow...the first three panels of that were painfully bad. No matter what else that kid does from now on, I like her.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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My youngest son has a bunk bed and he sleeps on the bottom bunk.
He occasionally has friends for overnights and they sleep in the top bunk. Personally, if I could, I would make him sleep in the top bunk because it is easier to change the sheets on the top bunk.
I thought Anthony and Francie's premature aging was going to be the elephant in the room forever.
But seriously, while I do know some people go gray before they hit 30, isn't Anthony a very pale blond? That normally makes it harder to spot.
Then again, Anthony is merely following the pattern set by Mike's friend Gordo, who despite being a mere year older than Mike now looks 68.
Hmmm. This may explain why Elly and John both retired when they're still in their mid-50s, with a 16 year old daughter still living at home.
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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Francie's verbal ability is probably unusual, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility. My daughter just turned three, and she talks and reasons just about that well. I only read the strips that Puffy links to, so maybe I missed something really egregious.
posted
I don't see her as behaving as any more than a three year old either Mel. Or really looking bigger than one.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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How do you interpret Therese's 'No!' thought balloon?
"No! I, was enjoying my EVIL life of being EVIL! How dare the saintly Liz Patterson be here with my spawn!"
"No! Francie will see the Christmas gift I was buying her! There goes my Christmas surprise."
"No! Hasn't the author of the strip already devoted several arcs this year alone to blaming me for every problem in Anthony's life? Write me out of this miserable strip!"
I'm hoping no more forced, convoluted retcons to make Anthony look good (and Therese look bad) are crammed down our throats.
I don't know what's worse...the thought of another "Therese is PURE EVIL!" arc, or the possible "Francie realizes Liz is her ONE TRUE MOM!" conclusion Lynn is no doubt aiming for.
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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I am waiting for a retcon to say that Liz and Anthony secretly eloped at one point (can't have sex without being married, or she wouldn't be a saint), it's actually Liz's baby, but aliens brainwashed them to think it was Therese's, and then all of the sudden everyone will know that Francie is Liz's daughter.... too extreme?
Posts: 2705 | Registered: Sep 2006
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Really, if Francie -was- her actual two and a half years old, she'd probably have problems recognizing Therese at all. According to Anthony (who admittedly is a biased source) she took no interest at all in her upbringing, was never around, and moved out when Francie was only just becoming a toddler.
If we go by the current Francie is 5-7...somehow!" paradigm, then my head begins to hurt. Mike and Deanna's kids are older than Francie but haven't aged so fast. Plus, the monthly letters from the characters that Lynn used to write made the claim that Francie visited Therese once a month. But those letters frequently contradicted the comic.
Oh, yeah. We're definitely headed for "Christmas special" ending.
"Liz, I ruined my chance with this beautiful child and that darling man. Take care of them for me, will you?"
Liz: "Of course I will! Merry Christmas!" Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote:Really, if Francie -was- her actual two and a half years old, she'd probably have problems recognizing Therese at all.
This firmly establishes you as a man who has never had children, you realize. That said, yeah, Francie's speaking like the most advanced two-year-old alive.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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If I can just borrow your soapbox for a second, Puffy, has Lynn Johnson never actually made a pie before? One of the main reasons not to cut a pie when its piping hot from the oven isn't that you'll burn yourself (although the filling would certainly be hot enough for that to be an issue too). It's that the pie will pretty much fall apart. The filling has to cool a bit before it gels, and the crust will fall into the liquid of the filling and be ruined. If you didn't mind the risk of burning and the soupy quality of the filling, you could certainly eat a piece, but anything that didn't get eaten then and there would end up soggy and gross.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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In my experience, that really depends on what kind of pie. Apple or cherry, sure. Pumpkin, mince, pecan -- not so much. It's hard to tell from the comic, but it looks like it could be mince.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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The dad (Jon or John? I can't remember) says in panel three that he can smell apple and pumpkin, so it almost has to be one of those two. The pie being cut in the fourth panel is mounded, which makes it unlikely to be pumpkin, and the slice that Ellie is peering at bemusedly in the fifth panel has an interior texture that would be more consistent with apple than pumpkin (and also consistent with a slice of cooled pie, I might add).
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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All excellent points. (Clearly, you have way less to do at work today than I do. )
However, time has clearly passed from panel 3 to panel 4 (no hat, and it looks like the overall might be gone too). So while they are still clearly quite hot (as per the steam plumes -- funny, my pies never do that), perhaps they have cooled enough to cut?
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote: All excellent points. (Clearly, you have way less to do at work today than I do. )
Actually, I was ridiculously busy finishing a project, but turned to comics for a much needed break (and was still in "looking at everything really carefully" mode, apparently).
quote:However, time has clearly passed from panel 3 to panel 4 (no hat, and it looks like the overall might be gone too). So while they are still clearly quite hot (as per the steam plumes -- funny, my pies never do that), perhaps they have cooled enough to cut?
Could be (though one might expect Ellie to have removed her apron as well, were that the case), but if much time had passed wouldn't the punchline be rendered completely nonsensical?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Man, Elly sure has aged in the past few strips. Before she looked middle aged, a little tired around the eyes, the appropriate age to have two young grandkids and a teenager of her own. Now she looks like a grandma, period.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Noemon: but if much time had passed wouldn't the punchline be rendered completely nonsensical?
First of all, ice cream always makes pie better. Second of all, it's hot -- see the steam?
In the comics, cats and children rarely age. And pies are magical!
Elly has been alternating looking very young and very grandma-y for several years. I'm sure a shrink would have a field day with that one. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Of course, Lynn has to show Deanna (normally a kind, polite character) being thoughtless and April (despite everything, the unexpected moral center of the Patterson family) being an eavesdropper so that she can justify today's particularly lame last panel.
Lynn, we all know this is just window dressing for Anthony's inevitable proposal to Liz. Please get a move-on. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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How dare she ask God to bless the Pattersons and their food.
The saddest thing is that Jim, the one character showing gratitude, is the one character Lynn keeps using as a glutton for punishment.
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What's wrong with a quiet suburban life?
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