Wild and crazy guys
Luann, 11/21/07
Pity the poor Luann creative team! In the continuing slow evolution of the strip’s characters, they’ve hit upon a potential gold mind of potential wacky plots: two young men living together, one somewhat impressionable, one somewhat scheming. Normally, you could just lie back and let the hijinks happen. But this is a comic strip that runs in mainstream family newspapers, so all the topics that you’d think of using for this setup — getting girls pregnant, hard drugs, getting into fights, having sex with girls, marijuana, hard liquor, video games, kissing girls, beer, uncleanliness, having physical contact of any sort with girls — are apparently off limits. We’re instead left with TJ’s manic holiday decorating jones, which, while potentially mildly amusing, seems a wee bit out of touch. Couldn’t Santa’s arm fly off in front of some little kids who would then wet their pants in terror at the sight? Oops, pants-wetting: also off-limits, apparently.
Blondie, 11/21/07
This is presumably supposed to be some sort of wry social commentary about how the commercial exploitation of Christmas seems to begin earlier and earlier every year with the stores and the malls and the waddyagonnadoamiright?, but it seems perfectly reasonable to me that desperate food addict Dagwood Bumstead would be so in love with Thanksgiving, a holiday whose main ritual is gluttony, that he’d build a series of twisted idols to it. My only surprise is that the Thanksgiving tree isn’t being trimmed with real edible yams and turkey flesh, to be consumed once everything on the table has been crammed down Dagwood’s ravenous gullet. Elmo, who has long settled into the role of Dagwood’s enabler, wants to know how he can assist with the rampant food worship; only Daisy wordlessly questions the madness.
Family Circus, 11/21/07
A good way to keep Dolly in line is to keep her ignorant of actual theology and just tell her that things that annoy you are sins that will damn her soul to hell for all eternity. Other sins in the Keane household: running in the house, staying up past eight o’clock, talking while mommy and daddy are trying to watch TV, and singing Christmas carols at any time.
Pluggers, 11/21/07
“Wait a minute!” I’m sure you said when you saw Pluggers this morning. “Canada? They don’t have pluggers in Canada! How can pluggers live in the land of Hillarycare and a marriage between a dog-man and a rhino-man? Admittedly, this submission came not from the hot-shot big city of Toronto but rather from some little town called ‘Torono’ that I’ve never heard of, but still … Canada?” Well, fear not for your sense of sanity: Idris Mercer is actually faithful Comics Curmudgeon reader Skullturf Q. Beavispants! I actually remember him mentioning this as a potential Pluggers entry in the comments some months back; I’m sure he’s gratified to see his idea acted out by an obese, flannel-clad semihuman. Not that I don’t fully encourage all of you to keep sending your petty gripes to TDIET (and we have plenty coming up in the next couple of months) but the Pluggers code has been harder to crack, and we must salute Mr. Beavispants as a result.
Unlike those who had their entries employed by TDIET, Skullturf was not contacted and told that his idea would be run, nor was he sent a suitable-for-framing copy of the cartoon, because pluggers don’t expect or deserve that sort of consideration.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:31 am
You lie to us yesterday. You said that Popeye panel had “context” in the full strip. But I looked and it didn’t make any more sense there than it did here.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:37 am
Pluggers don’t realize that it’s just as easy to plug in the VCR at 12:00 noon.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:38 am
Also, regarding Pluggers: First, Congratulations to Skullturf. But I have a tip for you: It’s much less tiring to wait until noon to plug in your circa-1994 VCR.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:38 am
CURSES! Beat to the punch.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:38 am
Drawing whimsical musical notes in black marker on the wall behind the 50-year-old radio, to make it look like it still works? Definitely a sin.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:40 am
I have news for you Josh: that is real turkey flesh sitting on top of that tree. There’s a good reason it looks so pissed off.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:40 am
Pluggers don’t realize that most VCRs will still only flash “12:00″ over and over for eternity no matter when you plug them in.
Then they blame the “Japs” for making things so complicated.
Then they complain that things aren’t made in America any more, so they break instantly instead of lasting through geological epochs.
Then they hop in their Mexican-built Chevy and drive to Wal-Mart to “save a buck” by buying Chinese sweatshop goods.
Then they have bran.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:48 am
this setup — getting girls pregnant, hard drugs, getting into fights, having sex with girls, marijuana, hard liquor, video games, kissing girls, beer, uncleanliness, having physical contact of any sort with girls
I like that. Josh. It’s like the pH scale of crass-idity.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:49 am
Congratulations, Skullturf.
Also…
Luann: Why does that spaghetti-haired guy just keep smiling that unnerving, squint-eyed grin? If I lived in the Luann-iverse, I would be so creeped out by this guy.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:50 am
More importantly Josh, Miss Buxley did not appear in today’s Beetle Bailey. I’m of the idea that yesterday and today’s strips got accidentally swapped somehow, but I know there’s some mourning going on out there in CC land.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:51 am
It’s possible to justify TJ’s get-up in the first panel in Luann by assuming Brad just happened to catch him in the middle of his bimonthly dishwashing chores.
But the fact that he’s wearing the same apron and industrial-grade gloves an hour later? With a white-collar shirt and conservative black pullover? Maybe he thinks the gloves are accessories.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:52 am
Hey, I’ve used a motorized waving Santa to get laid many times, and I can tell you, it doesn’t work. Unless “getting laid” means “making a jogging 60-year-old neighbor giggle.”
November 21st, 2007 at 11:53 am
Actually, guys, you DO have to wait till midnight to plug in the VCR. It’s a 24-hour clock, and the scheme will backfire otherwise.
Don’t, uh, ask me how i know this for sure……
November 21st, 2007 at 11:54 am
If you think pants-wetting is off-limits in the funny pages, you have obviously not read Marvin. Every other day, it poop or pee!
November 21st, 2007 at 11:56 am
So wait … IS there a “Torono,” Canada? I’m suspecting that it’s supposed to be Toronto, but “Torono” isn’t that implausible of a city name, and it sure would fit the motif of a place out in the sticks.
And anyone who’s genuinely surprised that there are Pluggers in Canada hasn’t been watching “The Red Green Show” lately.
I’m a man, but I can change, if I have to … I guess.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:57 am
I can’t believe you ignored today’s BC!
Kind of coherent, very creationist, but Hart’s dead!
I’m going to try something everyone else does –
FOOB – “That baby”? When did this become H&J?
Archie – I’m reminded of L&O: SVU. Don’t worry about being polite, Betty! Just say no! I’ve seen your cwaaaaaaazy Christian side – you can do it!
BC – Since when does Fat Broad beat turkeys? Unless it’s a snurkey!
BB – (not Baby Blues) – Beetle’s trying to change the dynamics of their relationship.
Blondie -why is the tree outside? Also, I just read a book where the character’s mother made holiday trees – devoted to every holiday, including Thanksgiving and 9/11. (Going in circles before lying down? The main character’s dog talks to her.)
Baby Blues – whoa! Pollyanna acknowledges reality!
Cshaft – Meh
GA – I thought only inflated tires went flat! From my heady days playing Oregon Trail, I think the axle broke. And he got bit by a snake.
MW – “Yes, let’s put up flyers at Petco after buying a bed, a personalized collar [they are awesomely cheap at this feed store by my house], dishes, food, and toys.”
Mutts – Aw. I’ve been saving each one this week. I love Mutts. You know how on the Foob site, people say “You must have a camera in my house!”? Yeah, dogs are great.
NS – It would be awesome to eat a turkey with a high blood alcohol. Hell, I’d eat some!
OBH – Waitresses can’t afford TiVo.
Phantom – why are other people doing the work? And why is he standing around in his costume? Is he doing something heroic? What are his powers again?
Pluggers – Blogger flaked on me yesterday morning, so I’m going to ignore the comic until next week.
Rex Morgan – They’re not in any danger unless they had sex.
SF- love it
Shoe – So Nader’s been replaced by Gore now.
Zits – I’ve been there! I am there. 19 is sucky age – nothing new, still can’t drink, whatever.
MF – Why isn’t the French president named?
I did it!
Now I have to go to class.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:57 am
Plugging the VCR in at noon will not be the same as midnight especially when programming it to record something. This is the whole point of a VCR clock.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:58 am
13 Boojum – your appliances are set to military time?
Or are you referring to the little dot or AM/PM thing?
That can be a problem when taping something or setting an alarm.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:59 am
There was A3G slash in the comments recently.
Will anyone inform me as to where I can find the Brad/TJ slash?
Anyone?
Anyone at all?
Please?
November 21st, 2007 at 11:59 am
Oh crap, I gotta plug in my VCR!
November 21st, 2007 at 12:00 pm
#7
… and then they throw the 24 empty toilet paper rolls they had to use because of the bran into a landfill. right along with the manual they could have read to set the clock the right way in the first place.
[btw, i nominate#7 for cmotw, that was funny as hell]
November 21st, 2007 at 12:00 pm
18 – Me – My alarm clock indicates AM/PM by a dot next to the letters PM.
But VCR – midnight, yeah. Poor Plugger! Having to stay up til midnight, just so he can tape the televangelists that the secular nazis have pushed to 3am. It’s enough to make a hideous experiment gone wrong cry.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Lu
When the Houston Chronicle gutted the comics pages, they decided to print one of the two remaining pages in color. Apparently somebody in house is doing the coloring because I often don’t see the colorized versions on-line. Also, the colorizing looks fairly bogus sometimes.
Today’s Luanne was especially noteworthy. The strip was clearly drawn to be printed in black and white, and Santa’s costume was rendered as a solid black that anyone over the age of 2 would mentally convert to the traditional red.
Unfortunately, this didn’t give much for the colorists to work with, so today’s printed version has colorized panels — and a Goth (or possibly Kryptonian member of Zod’s invasion force) Santa wearing a solid black costume.
It really jumps off the page, I’ll tell you. I was hoping for an in context Goth (and or Kryptonian) joke when I first saw it. Alas, just a dismembered Santa joke.
Reminds me of the real life adventure here in town this weekend. Mountaineering Santa tried to rapple down a 40 foot wall at a local outlet mall, got his beard caught in the pulley, was stranded half way down, and had to be rescued by the fire department. Santa paniced and ripped off his wig and hat trying to free his beard.
I expect thousands of dollars of therapy in years to come.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:01 pm
I actually live in Toronto. There’s probably no “Torono” anywhere, although it is quite reminiscent of Orono, Maine (which is a place name familiar to anyone who’s done a lot of crossword puzzles).
It’s a good thing I’m not from Saint John, New Brunswick, or St. John’s, Newfoundland, because that would have really confused them.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:02 pm
In today’s jolly edition of Garfield, Jon brings his cat to a restaurant, where said cat then plans to fornicate with a pie and some ice cream. Ho ho! So funny. But there’s a lesson here:
Folks, always spay or neuter your pets. Otherwise, you may catch your cat humping a lasagna in the middle of the night. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:07 pm
It’s a double curmudgeon-reader submission day! My 2nd TDIET slapped its ink onto thousands of sheets of newspaper pulp this morning!
November 21st, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Congratulations, Skullturf. I wanted to wait until I saw the cartoon before saying that. (”Pluggers” is one of those cartoons I read in the paper over lunch, for some reason.)
So now there’s been a Canadian entry in Pluggerville. Okay. But if one of those Axis-of-Weasel Europeans ever gets accepted, watch for the moon to turn blood red.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:11 pm
#9 – I have, for years, wondered about why TJ has perpetually remained a graven image of some peripheral 90210 character. Is this the only way the “artists” know how to draw a human that looks completely untrustworthy?
Cripes! Update the look already! Even Thel in FC got a new haircut that made her look passibly modern!
November 21st, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Congrats MWGallaher! Do we get to sit at the big kids’ table now?
November 21st, 2007 at 12:12 pm
I used to be a really big Sally Forth hater. I thought it was boring and her “sly look” was extremely annoying. But after I’ve started reading it regularly, I’ve decided that I really like Ted Forth. I love the strips where he says the most random things that don’t have to do with the situation. I guess it kinda reminds me of me.
Sally is still boring though.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:14 pm
10. Gabe: I posited yesterthread that Ms Buxley was designed to still appear “mid-week” this week, considering that most USA people have the next two days off. Hence Tuesday is mid-week and Buxley day. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me.
…I’m trying to make sense of Beetle Bailey. I’d say I need help, but then, some would say we all need help just by being here… :)
November 21st, 2007 at 12:16 pm
26: I suspected as much, what with the lack of hospitalization or intense male chauvinism! Congratulations!
November 21st, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Congratulations MWGallaher! I thought the name was somehow familiar. Now Josh will have to edit his post. Or make a new one, two on the same day about strips.
We haven’t seen that since the Uncle Lumpy days…
November 21st, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Niall: I saw that, another possible theory, but the Buxley Wednesday has never changed for holidays before. I stand by an accidental swap by the syndicate.
(Which makes me wonder if Walker called King Features bitching…)
November 21st, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Congrats right back, Skullturf, for turning the hoariest “tech ignorance” concept into something actually *funny*! Bravo!
November 21st, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Oh, and congrats to our double dose of CCers in the paper today! Too bad SQB has to move to Torono now…
November 21st, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Way to go, Skullturf!
I’m sure I shouldn’t feel this warm glow at the idea that poor little Dolly thinks she’s going to hell for singing Christmas carols before Thanksgiving. But…I do, dammit.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Pearls Before Swine: I don’t get today’s comic 0.o Explain!
Rex Morgan: Bleh, it shouldn’t take 3 strips just for someone to open a door. Let’s get to some action that’s not man-on-thirteen-year-old-boy.
Mary Worth: She’s so in denial right now. Maybe when she comes back and Chester has taken a dump on her rug she’ll be snapped back into reality. Good Chester!
Mark Trail: Our fuzzy, narrating animals are back.
Garfield: We all knew the day would come when he tries to get it on with food. He’s “steaming up” the surrounding windows.
Get Fuzzy: Poor Satchel. I think he has a serious problem. Of course, my dog has eaten a package of abreva, tube and all.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Way to go, MWGallaher!
(Now everyone knows I read the comments AFTER posting. Hee!)
November 21st, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I never realized American Thanksgiving was so much more erotic than Canadian Thanksgiving. Just talking about it is getting Heart’s mom so hot and bothered she can’t help but feel herself up right in front of her kid.
So that’s how it is in their family.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:28 pm
#21–xenolon, I completely agree and I second the nomination for #7 Mr. Coffee Nerves. I practically spewed my coffee when I got to the bran comment. Wouldn’t have been easy to explain to the boss… “you were reading WHAT at work??” At least I work in nutrition, so maybe I could have chalked it up to research: “but Dr. M, I just learned that Pluggers have a diet rich in bran!”
November 21st, 2007 at 12:28 pm
#40 — I had to go to the Chronicle page to see if you wern’t just making that up.
… crap, that is something I did not need to see.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Isn’t Torono in Italy? Didn’t they just have the Olympics there?
November 21st, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Dick: Tracy and the mayor are to decide the gov’s fate? I hope the mayor doesn’t belong to the other party.
FBoFW: “Show her off”? Right, John. You’re going to see that whore, aren’t you?
‘bean: This is the year everybody dies from food poisoning, isn’t it?
Parker: Sam’s story would be more believable if he didn’t close his eyes and savor the memory. Or is he just savoring the ink-juice?
Mark: It’s good to see Charles Whitman getting some time outdoors. He broods too much.
Mary: “Beagle dog” is redundant.
Rex: “There’s no lock on the door! And I’m not wearing pants!”
November 21st, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Santa’s hand takes flight
Escaping the bonds of earth
And grinning scumbags
Thin but determined
Dagwood loves his food and lights
As well as small boys
Dolly fears her God
The torment of hell haunts her
Laughter must follow
Plugger longs to plug
Waiting for the proper time
He must fear blackouts
November 21st, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Chester is already 100% healthy after his miraculous overnight full recovery. Why buy a dog bed now when you’re in the process of locating the rightful owner? I hope Chester is shitting, pissing, howling incessantly and chewing furniture while she’s away.
Maybe Johnny Malotte isn’t actually in Quebec. The violent way people behave and the abundant supply of weapons seems more like Iraq. A lot of Iraqi men have cheezy mustaches, too. The mountie might actually be Republican Guard…
November 21st, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Hey, one of you must have an answer to this question. Is there some handy-dandy way I can find a list of all newspapers that carry Pluggers? (And in this way hopefully find a paper copy at some well-stocked newsstand in this fair city of Torono?) Thanks.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I am a longtime lurker here, finally spurred into action and hoping to spark some snark concerning today’s Wall Street Journal article about zombie strips and Lynn Johnston’s quote-
“My feeling is if you can do what I’m doing and it knocks me out of the paper, do it. Do it,” challenged Lynn Johnston. “I’ll applaud you. But as long as the editors and readers want my strip, I’ll keep working.”
Working? How does a 90%+ recycling job count as working?
November 21st, 2007 at 12:51 pm
A3G – tommie: “of course, that’s a great idea. at least, i hope it is!!” oh no, tommie’s caght “luanne”! it’s contagious! get out of there, margo!
an ‘grats SQB and MWGallaher. way to take over the world.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:53 pm
I don’t even necessarily need a complete list; it would suffice to know of any newspapers that are widely available in different cities and that carry Pluggers.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:53 pm
I salute you, Mr. Beavispants!
November 21st, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Inspired by this post, and created by me for your enjoyment, I present to you: The Adventures of Dennis, Viscount of Stokington.
Menacing House
November 21st, 2007 at 12:58 pm
SQB is saying – “send me a paper copy of my Pluggers!”
November 21st, 2007 at 12:59 pm
38: The joke is that crocs are dumb and don’t know that rutebagas aren’t moving creatures.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:59 pm
#1: Congratulations, Skullturf! I see that your town has chosen to use the metric system and removed the final “t” from Toronto.
#2: SmartPeopleOnIce in last thread… just as Senator Rick Santorum has given us the noun santorum to describe fecal matter mixed with lubricant, I believe you’re on to something with turducken from this week’s Helmet of Hair Forth. Instead of stating, “Midge, Taffy, and Hortense were discovered by Aunt Eliose in the midst of a threesome, surrounded by turkey gravy and basters, fuckin’.” one could simply state, “Midge, Taffy, and Hortense were discovered by Aunt Eliose. They were turducken.”
Maybe someone could pose it in a question to John McCain.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:59 pm
#38 – In Rex Morgan, it usually takes 3 weeks to open a door
November 21st, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Yes, benro, but how many licks to get to the center of the Tootsieboy?
November 21st, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Lumpy, SQB: I asked similarly for a paper copy of my TDIET, no takers. I don’t think its a matter of CCers being Crankshafts or anything, just a matter of not many papers carrying TDIET and comments getting lost in the shuffle.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:03 pm
#55 benro –
And yet six decades on, the closet is still shut tight.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:03 pm
@54 #2. Rick Santorum by way of Dan Savage, anyway. :) Who is also responsible for these wonderful acronyms…. GGG, DTMFA. ITMFA
November 21st, 2007 at 1:04 pm
As someone who is both obese and flannel-clad I say: Not cool Josh. Too mean.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:05 pm
grrrr…cut off mid post.
…ITMFA…the list goes on. Dan Savage, we’re not worthy! (…insert Wayne and Garth-like bows here….)
November 21st, 2007 at 1:13 pm
#22 Saxman.
I saw a similar incident in my fair city … but Santa was rapelling down the side of an art museum to deliver that year’s Beaujolais Nouveau.
His beard caught in the breakrack, and suspended him about 10 feet off the ground.
No, really …
November 21st, 2007 at 1:14 pm
@63
I hope it wasn’t a real beard. OW.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:21 pm
#23 Saxman -
I saw a clip of stuck Santa on Keith Olbermann the other night. The poor kids must have been traumatized, but I thought it was funny as hell. In fact thinking about it now is giving me the giggles.
I’m late to the party but I’ve been enjoying Rex Morgan the last couple of weeks. There’s no doubt in my mind the creators are intentionally messing with everybody with the nonstop gay subtext (but is it even subtext at this point?).
November 21st, 2007 at 1:22 pm
So what the heck happened to the artwork in Pardon my Planet this last week or so???
November 21st, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Even TDIET has an e-mail address to send submissions to, but Pluggers just has some post office box somewhere. Since it’s Pluggers though, having the creator not deal with e-mail seems very apt. I can see now an anthropomorphized version of the Pluggers’ creator with one of those old typewriters where all the keys get caught in the middle and a stamp. The caption would be “Plugger E-mail.”
November 21st, 2007 at 1:39 pm
TJ, in his apron and Playtex gloves, is the feminine half of that partnership. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that). It makes sense that he is scheming and underhanded because those are female traits in cartoon land. Don’t complain to me ladies. In Luanneiverse, you forfiet the right to complain about oppressive female streotypes.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:44 pm
So TJ is the happy homemaker wife, just brimming with festive Matha Stewart-like holiday ideas, and Brad is the Tim Taylor husband, wanting to add his manly-yet-destructive touch to all proceedings? Or have I got it all wrong?
November 21st, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Go Skullturf! Yay Torono!
November 21st, 2007 at 1:45 pm
#23–Saxman, what a story!
There must be something seriously wrong with me. The mental picture of the hung-up Santa on the climbing wall made me laugh and laugh. Funniest thing I’ve read all week. Thanks!
November 21st, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Known Torono to Torino for his tech-related rants,
There has never been a Plugger like our Skullturf Beavispants!
November 21st, 2007 at 2:04 pm
I think of TJ as more like Lucy Ricardo. Not quite as butch as Martha Stewart. I can almost hear Brad saying: “TJ, ju got some splainin’ to do!”
November 21st, 2007 at 2:04 pm
I think of TJ as more like Lucy Ricardo. Not quite as butch as Martha Stewart. I can almost hear Brad saying: “TJ, ju got some splainin’ to do!”
November 21st, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Luanne can be Ethel and that geeky kid in the sweater vests can be Fred.
In a future story line, TJ can invite a cartoon celebrity to dinner. Say Rex Parker. Hilarity ensues when Rex brings Nikki and Nikki describes his “fishing” trip with Rex, as TJ looks on horrified and Brad comes to a full Cuban boil. (That final phrase bringing us full circle to Josh’s suggestions for improving this sadly nonthreatening strip.)
November 21st, 2007 at 2:24 pm
#71 et al.
More information about the stuck Santa is available on the Internet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLkLp7Zn9Ss
Sigh, I can still believe in the Easter Bunny.
November 21st, 2007 at 4:30 pm
#45…the funniest thing I’ve ever read. Period.
Also, Brad is pondering attaching the inside-out fur-lined mitten to Santa’s “jerking” hand. TJ’s invented something useful at last!
November 21st, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Hey! Mazel tov! to SQB and MGW – as some poet once said:
“Fame, tho’ fleeting/ lights a brief candle/ something-or-other/ better than darkness…”
BTW, While I’m sure SQB lives in “Toronto” – the big city on Lake Ontario – isn’t “Torono”, Ontario located on the Canadian side of the Lost Forest Wilderness Area?
November 21st, 2007 at 5:08 pm
#55 Dingo–shouldn’t that be “meric system”?
TJ has the Joker’s rictus grin and Richard Simmon’s hair. Something ungodly has happened somewhere.
November 21st, 2007 at 5:30 pm
50 Skullturf:
“Pluggers” runs in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I doubt that’s very helpful in Torono, but maybe you have a really good newsstand . . .
November 21st, 2007 at 5:55 pm
#48 slymon: Boy… Lynn’s repeating her “knock me off the page” line, and getting cranky about it, too!
November 21st, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Speaking of TJ showing a feminine side, what might happen when Dirk re-enters the picture? Might that be the end of TJ and Brad? Or TJ, Brad and Toni? Or TJ, Brad, Toni and Luann? Or the whole comic (?) strip? Care to speculate anyone?
November 21st, 2007 at 6:28 pm
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/Cruiser7/Fark/fs071121.jpg
November 21st, 2007 at 6:50 pm
I think Cathy might want to borrow that motorized Santa for a while.
November 21st, 2007 at 8:02 pm
First time post, though long time lurker; I just wanted to let you know that the Wall Street Journal article on comics can be read online at
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119560137171799830.html?mod=hpp_us_leisure
I do think Lynn Johnston should go ahead and retire.
Apologies if the information on the WSJ article has already been posted.
November 21st, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Pluggers – I was really considering going through all of the “you might be a red neck” jokes, sending them in to Pluggers one by one, and seeing if I can trick Pluggers into plagiarizing Jeff Foxworthy….
November 21st, 2007 at 9:34 pm
#83 Sherri – you’re my hero
November 22nd, 2007 at 1:44 am
As one who lives east of Toronto and west of the village of Orono, Ontario I can testify that “Torono” is a reasonable phonetic approximation of the way many Torontonians pronounce the name of their city. The emphasis is on the second syllable:Toe-RAW-no . Common variants include TRAWN-toe and TRAWN-uh.
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:27 am
“A plugger sets the time on his electric equpment by waiting until exactly 12:00 to plug it in.”
A lesson in etymology for all of us. I’d always wondered where the word came from.
November 22nd, 2007 at 8:39 am
I was wondering why Pluggers was funny.
November 22nd, 2007 at 8:46 am
A Luann question –
I don’t read Luann all the time so I’m not sure…
TJ’s gay right? I’ve never seen it mentioned, but it’s a newspaper strip. There’s a don’t ask/don’t tell thing going on to make complainers happy right?
(Newpapers are still pretty titchy about the issue. Case in point – we never see Lawrence on FOOB anymore. Personally I’d trade the adventures of sexy garden centre owner Lawrence and his AnthonyClone husband for Mike and stepford wife any day. But then it wouldn’t be All About Mike.)
But TJ and Brad are supposed to be a kind of Odd Couple for the 21st century, right?
November 22nd, 2007 at 4:40 pm
91. – Girl Randolph – Luann, Naw, TJ is NOT gay (Though many readers of “Curmudgeon” seem to want him to be). He IS however a scheming, lowlife, backstabbing, lying, pain in the ass, that for some strange reason, creator Greg Evans insists on keeping in the strip. Nothing TJ does is EVER funny and few if any of his schemes ever work. If TJ exsisted in the real world he would have been found dead in an alley with multiple gunshot wounds long ago. Then promptly buried and quickly forgotten.
There is another character in the Luann universe almost as bad: Knute. Same stupid grin, same mindless schemes. Knute does have a few good points however.
His appearances in the strip are mercifully rare, so he is only “mildly” annoying and he is good for a loan of 25 cents if you need it.
Oh, by the way, HAPPY THANKSGIVING, All!
And….,
_____________
DEATH to TJ!
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Dolly must really fear God. I think she must have seen the afterlife in Hell at some point in time. For her sake, I hope she’s never killed any mockingbirds.
November 23rd, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Too lazy to search the other comments, but plugging it in at 12N or 12M wouldn’t matter. The clock doesn’t then start running. It flashes. You need to press (or otherwise operate) the arcane Eastern invented by Dr. No time-setting mechanism which you have to be a Zen master with an engineering degree from Stamford to figure out in the first place and which i so couldn’t understand on my new Radio Shack travel alarm that i threw the damn thing in the trash where it now sits, really, in the landfill waiting until its expensive lithium-ion fuel cell powers down to zero– that’ll show you, you dammned, dammned thing… *ahem*. So… the Plugger should start the process somewhat in advance of 12 whatever to account for the time required to press said button.
Or just fling the whole F&*%ng thinkg in the dumpster.
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:14 pm
If Dagwood eats more in a day than most people in North Korea eat in five years, why is he so skinny? Ralph Drabble is a bit of a pig but he at least has a spare tire around his middle.
November 25th, 2007 at 12:10 am
I am not typing out the name of this website because it might get me spam-flagged, but HCWDB has a tidy analysis of Family Circus Family Dynamics. I recommend it:
http://www.hotchickswithdouchebags.com/2007/11/family-circus-why-jeffy-is-bag.html