WCT: August 31-September 4, 2009

[aichambaye]

OK, it's a little off topic, but I finally figured out what's been bothering me about the "fancy dress" sequences.  It's the hats!  Not the women's hats, they looked great, it's the men's hats.  The brims are too small!

Now, before everybody starts calling me a costume Nazi, it's really just an aesthetic thing.  I only mention it because I know Jeph is continuously trying to improve his art.  Of course, I doubt he reads much of this...

Back to the hats... a bowler/Derby like Will was wearing needs to have a wider brim that curls up on the sides.  The same is true of the top hats, and the body of a top hat should curve in a bit on the sides.  The stovepipe style was out of fashion when Lincoln wore one, but even it had a wider brim!

This. Also the fact that women wear corsets under other clothes, not AS CLOTHES in the victorian period. And they had sleeves and straps on their clothes.

HOWEVER, that is a BAR and so... it's not really historical as much as "some crap the guys who own the bar bought at a costume store". So I can let it go. Mostly.

[maddness]

In Australia we dont have squirrels, we hae possoms.

In America we have both.

OK, it's a little off topic, but I finally figured out what's been bothering me about the "fancy dress" sequences.  It's the hats!  Not the women's hats, they looked great, it's the men's hats.  The brims are too small!

Wil's hat brim has bugged me from the first, but I thought that maybe it was meant to be narrow or possibly I was misremembering the looks of a bowler.

[innermoppet]

Poor Sven. He's such a wiener.  I don't think he's ever experienced true regret before. He usually just uses a girl up until he gets bored and moves on before they matter.  That's gotta burn. I wonder if this will help his writing career. There's nothing like fresh raw emotions put to paper. Mayhap he'll actually start writing music for a genre he actually listens to.

[maddness]

Do you listen to Country? I think half of it is someone whining about someone they just lost.

[Carl-E]

Do you listen to Country? I think half of it is someone whining about someone they just lost.

...and the other half is about how good life/love/country is.  It's either feast or famine! 

Course, the same can be said of the blues... or early rockabilly.  "Heartbreak Hotel" vs. "Viva Las Vegas!"

[Watched Pot]

In Australia we dont have squirrels, we hae possoms.

In America we have both.

[Linnaeus]Technically we have opossums which are distinct from Australian possums, though in common parlance the words are often used interchangeably.[/Linnaeus]

[danman]

Do you listen to Country? I think half of it is someone whining about someone they just lost.

WTF? I know a lot of czechoslovak country (a large part of it consists of US songs with remade lyrics) but none of it can be characterised as whining. Usually the songs are about village people. or people who go kind of camping with friends , or some love histories (for example Thin Black Veil has the lyrics close to the original in content) but no such rubbish as you seem to describe. I think this knowledge is just as with the man who spoke a lot about sheepcheese dumplings (our national food, but originating from the east of the country) and someone asked him, since what he spoke did not quite fit his other info: Did you actually eat halusky  (the name of the food) ?  No , but my brother saw them once.

[Dliessmgg]

So that's why my philosophy teacher always sayd that somebody without knowledge is somebody without an opinion! /insert now-you-know-more-pling

[Carl-E]

Do you listen to Country? I think half of it is someone whining about someone they just lost.

WTF? I know a lot of czechoslovak country (a large part of it consists of US songs with remade lyrics) but none of it can be characterised as whining. Usually the songs are about village people. or people who go kind of camping with friends , or some love histories (for example Thin Black Veil has the lyrics close to the original in content) but no such rubbish as you seem to describe.

Well, there you go - Czeckoslovak country.  I imagine some things may get a little lost in translation.  But the themes are still there - village ("country") people, and how great they are; camping (or hunting, or fishing) with the "good ol' boys", and how great that is; and love.  That's where you get the split - love songs are either tragic or euphoric,, there's rarely any in-between!  You just don't hear, "I'm pretty satisfied, and my sex life's not bad" too often!  

And songs of lost love just seem whiney to some people.  Personally, I'm trying to lose someone, and it ain't workin' yet.  But that's a whole 'nother story... and maybe a new country genre?  

I think this knowledge is just as with the man who spoke a lot about sheepcheese dumplings (our national food, but originating from the east of the country) and someone asked him, since what he spoke did not quite fit his other info: Did you actually eat halusky  (the name of the food) ?  No , but my brother saw them once.

Mmmmm... haluski....  Damn, drooling on the keyboard again!  

[Random832]

annoying tourists which is thier primary diet.

Now, wait. With all these dangerous creatures around, is your tourism industry really so large as to be able to support both them and Drop Bears in that same ecological niche?

[maddness]

My husband listens to Country music and Rock about equally. He's a country boy. I lived in his home town for a few years. Believe me, I've heard plenty of Country music. Besdies, ho says you can't enjoy something and still poke fun at it?

[danman]

My husband listens to Country music and Rock about equally. He's a country boy. I lived in his home town for a few years. Believe me, I've heard plenty of Country music. Besdies, ho says you can't enjoy something and still poke fun at it?

Well, the fun seemed as misplaced to me as making fun of George Bush for wearing pink - the subjects that you described were simply not my experience with country music. which i like a lot as well.
Maybe the new stuff is such monotonous rubbish - IMO all good music was made before 1990 (there is a number of exceptions, but plotted by quantity , it looks a lot like exponential decay

[LeeC]

on campus today I had a gunslinger moment with a squirrel.

[Carl-E]

on campus today I had a gunslinger moment with a squirrel.

woooeeeooooeeeeoooooo....   waah waaaah waaaaaaahhh...

Were you good, bad, or just ugly? 

[LeeC]

good, he was bad, and the goth chick eating by herself to the right off us was ugly 

(before all kinds of hexes and curses get put on little old me I am not saying all goth chicks are ugly, in fact there are many hot ones, just this one particularity was not too physically appealing)

[raoullefere]

Well, he IS Sven, so that may have just fell into his lap.
As so many women do.

Habits are heard to break.

Is jeph gonna make faye go for the other guy?

Yes. With a bullwhip, if need be. That be how Jeph rolls.

*snerk* Okay, I really have no idea how or if Jeph rolls, but I find the mental image of Jeph chasin' Faye around in his head with a bullwhip, shouting, "You WILL hook up with Angus, Little Missy" … intriguing.

[maddness]

Well, the fun seemed as misplaced to me as making fun of George Bush for wearing pink - the subjects that you described were simply not my experience with country music.

I have no idea what the George Bush wearing pink thing is about. Something I missed, I guess?

Maybe you just haven't heard enough American Country music, because there is plenty of that stuff, that's why people joke about it. If you want, I could make you a list of songs to give a listen to. A few of my all time favorites have to be Bubba Shot the Jukebox, Friends in Low Places, Walk Softly. The first two because they're just fun to sing along to and the last one because it's got a Bluegrass feel to it, which I like.

[danman]

Well, the fun seemed as misplaced to me as making fun of George Bush for wearing pink - the subjects that you described were simply not my experience with country music.

I have no idea what the George Bush wearing pink thing is about. Something I missed, I guess?

Maybe you just haven't heard enough American Country music, because there is plenty of that stuff, that's why people joke about it. If you want, I could make you a list of songs to give a listen to. A few of my all time favorites have to be Bubba Shot the Jukebox, Friends in Low Places, Walk Softly. The first two because they're just fun to sing along to and the last one because it's got a Bluegrass feel to it, which I like.

Well it was an example of a misplaced joke - it would be absurd since bush is not known to wear pink. Same thing here  - in my experience country  music was not known for cheesy love songs.
Hearing the names of the songs i am starting to think that it is caused simply by me listening to older songs and to czechoslovak ones - they simply had more contentful lyrics.

[MamiyaOtaru]

Achy Breaky Heart.  Listen at your peril

[Border Reiver]

Every musical genre has its black sheep.

[The Duke]

My husband listens to Country music and Rock about equally. He's a country boy. I lived in his home town for a few years. Believe me, I've heard plenty of Country music. Besdies, ho says you can't enjoy something and still poke fun at it?

Our house is like that - my mom's all like "Lucinda Williams and Dixie Chicks ftw" and my dad's all like "Bruce Springsteen and Allman Brothers ftw"

I got the rock gene. lml

[maddness]

How old are we talking here? The songs I listed are 17, 19, and 7 years old respectively.

Black Sheep? Are we talking specific songs or artist in general, because Trace Adkins beat Billy Ray for song with that damned Honly Tonk Badonkadonk song ... hands down.

[tinkerbell]

In Australia we dont have squirrels, we hae possoms.

In America we have both.

[Linnaeus]Technically we have opossums which are distinct from Australian possums, though in common parlance the words are often used interchangeably.[/Linnaeus]

They are indeed. According to the great manual of Wikipedia, we have 69 different species of possum in Australia. And sometimes it sounds like every single one of them is running across the roof of my house.

[cerement]

czechoslovak country

... which get remade into dance songs ...

[innermoppet]

Do you listen to Country? I think half of it is someone whining about someone they just lost.

I listen to plenty of country. I didn't suggest that country music is or isn't the appropriate genre for Sven's angst. I said maybe he'll write music for a genre he actually enjoys. Sven doesn't seem to like country music or his own songs. He's wealthy because he's a marketable song writer and doesn't have to work too hard or use any real emotions in order to sell lyrics.  Now he has some real raw emotion and some serious regret and I would think that he'd be more likely to take his REAL emotions and put them in a genre of music he enjoys listening to. I'm pretty sure he's an indie music fan like Faye and Marten.

Also I think most MUSIC in general is about someone whining about someone they just lost.

Also because I have nothing else to do. A song concept for Sven:

Here's the story of your
red right knuckle
that you used to bruise my face*
as the muscle bone and sinew mangled
and the skin  was roughly shed

how it whispered 'this cocksucker cheated on me'
because we are bound by dysfunctionality
and whatever differences our views have been
we'll probably end up in bed again

This is the story of your
red right knuckle...

*These are metaphorical bruises. I know that Faye never actually hit Sven.

[kurzon]

It's interesting that the author note actually changes the way I read that strip (especially since the note loaded and thus got read first).

Without the note, the result of Sven and Faye's talk is certainly not, uh, dumpster sex, but it could range anywhere from "Yeah, I guess we can be friends - but nothing more, ever" to "No, I never want to see you again.  Don't come near the coffee shop."

With the note, it kind of implies we start with "Don't come near the coffee shop" and goes downhill from there.

Oh well - Sven looks like a classic case of "Don't know what you've got till it's gone" and unfortunately doesn't seem to know of any way to get 'it' back.  If he ever finds someone he cares about again, hopefully he'll understand his feelings and summon the ability to say "no" to whoever is trying to seduce him.

As for Faye - she contributed to the downfall of their relationship by insisting it was sex and only sex, which certainly helped Sven treat the relationship as if it was disposable.

Still hoping she doesn't rebound into the arms of Slimegus though.

[Penquin47]

For the person trying to lose someone, check out Jack Ingram's "I Can't Leave You".  It's hilarious.

Every genre has its crap.  I actually love "Achy Breaky Heart" and "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" just because of how over-the-top ridiculous they are.

[Akima]

They are indeed. According to the great manual of Wikipedia, we have 69 different species of possum in Australia. And sometimes it sounds like every single one of them is running across the roof of my house.

I hear you, sister! I'll swear that the rotten little things wear hobnailed boots. And you can't send your anthro-PC out to zap them because they're protected species. Then there are the flying-foxes that flap noisily in and out of the Banksia tree outside my bedroom in the middle of the night...

[Martok]

Heh.  Tonight's comic really cracked me up. 

I especially loved the third frame where it shows her and the squirrel in silhouette charging towards each other -- I think that should be the next QC t-shirt! 

[akronnick]

Am I the only one who heard music from Kill Bill when I read this one? No? Good.

Marigold needs to upgrade Momo's humor detection software, perhaps move that slider a few clicks away from 'literal' and toward 'just joking'

[raoullefere]

How can Marigold do that when she herself has problems with taking things too literally? I suspect the main reason Momo didn't recognize the joke is that Marigold is not given to making them.*

ANd I think you are the only one, akronnick. I think I heard some pipe-laden theme from Samurai Jack.

*Edit: I mean, who thinks asking for a squirrel instead of a tool is a ripping good joke?

[tinkerbell]

Am I the only one who heard music from Kill Bill when I read this one? No? Good.

Not at first... but now I have that in my head. It helps that I can set it as a ringtone on my phone, that way I can get it out of my system.

[Kugai]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNfwolnkJG0

[Akima]

A single-stroke battle of which Miyamoto Musashi would have been proud. I can't believe that TV Tropes' entry has already been updated with a citation of tonight's comic. We are such nerds.

[Aurjay]

I seriously loved everything about this comic. I too would love to see a shirt with panel 3-4 on it.

[Border Reiver]

Momo, go get the roomba.  Only he has the power to deal with the squirrel (and the profile to get under the bed).

[workingrobbie]

 

Momo = complete and utter awesomeness

[Binary]

Brilliant. Just... brilliant.

If I had a tall thin monitor, panels 1-3 would now be wallpaper.

[philharmonic]

OMG 2nd best strip EVAR

Best ever still belongs to #666 metal interlude

thank you for making my Friday

[LTK]

How can Marigold do that when she herself has problems with taking things too literally? I suspect the main reason Momo didn't recognize the joke is that Marigold is not given to making them.*

ANd I think you are the only one, akronnick. I think I heard some pipe-laden theme from Samurai Jack.

*Edit: I mean, who thinks asking for a squirrel instead of a tool is a ripping good joke?

I agree, it was a bit of a stretch. I'm under the impression Jeph is leaning to 'oh man this would be so much fun to draw' instead of 'oh hey I think everyone would laugh at this', which is perfectly fine, of course, since it's his work.

[ltuspud]

Who doesn't love the old school Ninja Gaiden reference...

[MillionDollar Belt Sander]

I seriously loved everything about this comic. I too would love to see a shirt with panel 3-4 on it.

Yes.

Please.

[Steve the Pocket]

Am I the only one who heard music from Kill Bill when I read this one? No? Good.

I imagined the music from [ur=http://www.homestarrunner.com/underconstruction.html]this cartoon[/url], since the sequences are so similar (especially with the ambiguous-climax bit).

[maddness]

I love the little smile after the squirrel falls.

[Shok Xone Studios]

So does Momo keep the kendo stick in the place as the live eels?

[raoullefere]

*Edit: I mean, who thinks asking for a squirrel instead of a tool is a ripping good joke?

I agree, it was a bit of a stretch. I'm under the impression Jeph is leaning to 'oh man this would be so much fun to draw' instead of 'oh hey I think everyone would laugh at this', which is perfectly fine, of course, since it's his work.

Actually, I thought it was perfectly in character. It's Marigold's failing, not Jeph's. Of course, Marigold is Jeph, but Jeph is not Marigold. If you follow me.

[Gnomo]

Actually, I thought it was perfectly in character. It's Marigold's failing, not Jeph's. Of course, Marigold is Jeph, but Jeph is not Marigold. If you follow me.

Yes he is.

[tinkerbell]

*Edit: I mean, who thinks asking for a squirrel instead of a tool is a ripping good joke?

I agree, it was a bit of a stretch. I'm under the impression Jeph is leaning to 'oh man this would be so much fun to draw' instead of 'oh hey I think everyone would laugh at this', which is perfectly fine, of course, since it's his work.

Actually, I thought it was perfectly in character. It's Marigold's failing, not Jeph's. Of course, Marigold is Jeph, but Jeph is not Marigold. If you follow me.

Definitely have to agree on that one. If it were any other character saying that you would think they had lost their edge, but for Marigold it just... works.

[Carl-E]

...Of course, Marigold is Jeph, but Jeph is not Marigold. If you follow me.

Actually, my oldest daughter is Marigold.  The room, the "pet" rats, the acne, the "all over" hair, two moles on her chin.  It's uncanny, really, down to the anime and manga (yes, yaoi too, but she thinks I don't know), and the gaming. 

And the absolute sense of panic when her 'puter's mother board blew the other day. 

She follows QC too, and is just as oblivious as Marigold is to the whole "personal epiphany" thing.  Just my liuck... I'm still waiting for Hannelore to show up and CLEAN THE FRIGGIN ROOM!! 

By the way, she thought the squirrel thing was hilARious! 

[plethora]

Does she also read this forum?