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Marten

6 (9%)

Faye

18 (26.9%)

Dora

8 (11.9%)

Hannelore

8 (11.9%)

Momo

7 (10.4%)

Marigold

3 (4.5%)

Claire

11 (16.4%)

Other (please specify in comment)

6 (9%)

Total Members Voted: 63

Voting closed: 29 Apr 2015, 05:04

[hedgie]

Also, having a nude portrait of oneself in one's living room is just strange, Veronica.

What? You can't keep it in the dining room!

Depends on whether or not one wants to have an old friend for dinner.

[Storel]

Why are we assuming that's a portrait of Veronica? Just because the hair's the same color?

[Kugai]

I'm suspecting she either has a Minimalist taste when it comes to her own personal space or she's not completely moved in yet and has the place set up only with the basics.

I wondered if that was a painting of Veronica.

[Gladstone]

It's actually a housewarming present from Dora.

[Omega Entity]

Why are we assuming that's a portrait of Veronica? Just because the hair's the same color?

That, but mostly that A) her career was very sexual in nature and B) she has a bold enough personality to have a nude painting of herself in her living room.

[Torlek]

Why are we assuming that's a portrait of Veronica? Just because the hair's the same color?

Because Veronica strikes us as the type to have artful nudes of herself scattered about her abode given her openness (to appropriate-ish persons) about her career?

It's actually a housewarming present from Dora.

Somebody just launched a new fanfiction line.

[QuestionableIntentions]

I get that this was a joke, but still. A whale penis and a nude painting of oneself (if that really is her) are not appropriate decorations. Especially not for your son and his girlfriend.

Would a male character have gotten away with it?

[Method of Madness]

Steve, maybe.

[Gladstone]

Steve, maybe.

Steve definitely.  If memory serves, shirtless photo (possibly just in a codpiece?) above his bed.  It used to hang over the mantle, but he decided it worked better as a post-coital conversation piece.  Someone with better archive-fu will have to hunt the relevant strip (a conversation with Marten and/or Tai, I believe) down for me, because I have no idea where to look.

[BenRG]

I'm thinking that this is why Marten doesn't bring girlfriends to his mother's place often. He isn't ashamed of her but she just can't help but be embarrassing with her paradoxical openness about her profession and nature. She scares them off without meaning to!

Meanwhile, I think that Claire has a sudden need to wash her hands.

FWIW, I think that the portrait is of a young Veronica Vance, possibly by an admirer or a client. Most wouldn't display it but, maybe, this is a clue to part of Veronica's personality: She has a love for beauty and feels that something beautiful should be seen. As for the whale penis? Well, unfortunately that's another part of her personality: She's got a mischievous sense of humour.

Regarding the overall décor, Kugai is probably right. It's likely an example of Scandinavian minimalism, what I call 'an IKEA special'.

I get that this was a joke, but still. A whale penis and a nude painting of oneself (if that really is her) are not appropriate decorations. Especially not for your son and his girlfriend.

It's hardly erotica and Marten and Claire are both adults. It's certainly eccentric and maybe a little vain but it's hardly offensive!

Just a final note - I've got a real feeling that, probably next week, Veronica will tell Claire that she knows that she's trans and will freak Claire out by demanding all the gossip about the relationship.

[Method of Madness]

I'm thinking that this is why Marten doesn't bring girlfriends to his mother's place often.

Or because she's lived there a week

[BenRG]

I'm thinking that this is why Marten doesn't bring girlfriends to his mother's place often.

Or because she's lived there a week

I meant ever. Of any place where she's lived.

[Method of Madness]

Vicky (I think that was her name?) was in college and Northampton, and Dora was strictly Northampton, and we have no evidence of pre-Vicki relationships. But sure, if he had a girlfriend I doubt he'd be crazy about the idea...but I'm not sure he'd have much of a choice either. If she can get him over this easily now, I doubt it'd be different earlier in life.

[Lubricus]

My impression is that Veronica only enters motherhood mode in periods - a lot of the time, she is focused on her own stuff, and only occasionally takes the role of parent. If I'm right about that, she might be changing in this respect, as she is getting older and less career-focused.

[Is it cold in here?]

There were the "four or five" previous girlfriends Dora reacted badly to.

[Method of Madness]

Oh right. I forgot about those.

[mikmaxs]

Okay, am I going insane or did yesterday's comic ('Psychic Readings') change punchlines? I would have sworn that the comic originally ended with his mom saying something like "I saw that coming a mile away," and then Marten saying "Well I could have used a heads up," but now it's a joke about his mom having already seen them holding hands. Does anyone else remember this?

[Khazgar]

It did. I just noticed it this morning. I have to say, I liked the previous version a lot better - the "I saw it coming for ages" (or whatever it was she said) was just so good.

Did anyone save the previous version?

[Method of Madness]

Yep.

[Khazgar]

Thank you so much.

Can we petition Jeph to change it back?

[ZoeB]

Schroedinger's Comic.

[Mr. Skawronska]

Schroedinger's Comic.

Is the punchline dead or alive?

[BenRG]

Schroedinger's Comic.

Is the punchline dead or alive?

I think that Zoe meant that, technically, both versions of panel 4 in strip 2948 exist and are equally valid outcomes. Only when you read the version of the strip that you have does the uncertainty resolve itself.

[Akima]

Schrödinger's Comic is not Bohring.

I'm assuming that is a scale model. I'd have expected a whale's penis to be larger.

A whale penis and a nude painting of oneself (if that really is her) are not appropriate decorations. Especially not for your son and his girlfriend. Would a male character have gotten away with it?

It's a model of a penis, not a penis, and says who? A male character could have got away with hanging a stuffed deer's head on the wall, or picture of himself standing with his foot on a bear he'd shot; both altogether more dubious as decorations than the back view of a nude woman, so I don't think we need to invoke sexism.

[Thrillho]

For the record, from where I'm standing, it doesn't even look like it's her anyway.

And there's a real lack of appreciation for the difference between art and porn here.

[Gnomeybum]

I actually think it's a very tasteful portrait, even if it is Veronica herself. I mean, nudes are captured in art ALL the time, and it's hardly like a portrait from Madonna's 'Sex'. Consider:

(mod edit: It's art, but someone may be reading this at work. Added spoiler tag.)

(click to show/hide)

As for the whale penis, out of context it just looks like a piece of modern sculpture. The comic artist behind 'Oh Joy, Sex Toy', a fantastic, light hearted, sex-positive comic that I would hugely recommend, keeps some of the sex toys she has been sent to review on display because, out of the context of their use, they are very like sculpture.

I really don't see the big deal here, yo.

Edit: this was the particular OJST comic I was thinking of: http://www.ohjoysextoy.com/gspoon/ (nsfw link)

[ZoeB]

Schroedinger's Comic.

Is the punchline dead or alive?

I think that Zoe meant that, technically, both versions of panel 4 in strip 2948 exist and are equally valid outcomes. Only when you read the version of the strip that you have does the uncertainty resolve itself.

Correct.

[SubaruStephen]

As for the whale penis, out of context it just looks like a piece of modern sculpture. The comic artist behind 'Oh Joy, Sex Toy', a fantastic, light hearted, sex-positive comic that I would hugely recommend, keeps some of the sex toys she has been sent to review on display because, out of the context of their use, they are very like sculpture.

I really don't see the big deal here, yo.

The latest OJST comic has a picture of the display cabinet the artist keeps the toys in, and I totally think that Veronica would have a similar cabinet somewhere in her apartment.

[Welu]

I love the portrait. Very Veronica.

What's the point of having it in the bedroom? I imagine anyone she invites to her bedroom will get the live feature so putting the portrait in there would be redundant.

[pwhodges]

Also, having a nude portrait of oneself in one's living room is just strange, Veronica.

Meh.  I know a middle-aged couple of gay men who have a full-frontal nude painting of them together at the top of their main stairs.  Adonises they are not.  The late mother of one of them, whom I knew, disliked it...

[bhtooefr]

FWIW, I'm not coming at that from a slut-shaming or art-erasing POV, I'm coming at that as being narcissistic. While nude paintings aren't something I'd have as decoration, I can definitely see the artistic value. It's when it's nude paintings of oneself that it just goes over the top, IMO.

[Neko_Ali]

Also keep in mind that in addition to being a professional dominatrix, Veronica is also a professional erotic model. A tasteful nude of herself in the living room doesn't even register as a drop in the bucket, I'm sure.

[Nepiophage]

I'm assuming that is a scale model. I'd have expected a whale's penis to be larger..

Depends what species of whale.  It's about the right size for a killer whale.  Lots of info here http://www.whalefacts.org/blue-whale-penis/ (possibly NSFW)

[Omega Entity]

I actually think it's a very tasteful portrait, even if it is Veronica herself. I mean, nudes are captured in art ALL the time, and it's hardly like a portrait from Madonna's 'Sex'. Consider:



As for the whale penis, out of context it just looks like a piece of modern sculpture. The comic artist behind 'Oh Joy, Sex Toy', a fantastic, light hearted, sex-positive comic that I would hugely recommend, keeps some of the sex toys she has been sent to review on display because, out of the context of their use, they are very like sculpture.

I really don't see the big deal here, yo.

Edit: this was the particular OJST comic I was thinking of: http://www.ohjoysextoy.com/gspoon/

You miiiight want to put an NSFW warning on the comic link

[Gnomeybum]

I actually think it's a very tasteful portrait, even if it is Veronica herself. I mean, nudes are captured in art ALL the time, and it's hardly like a portrait from Madonna's 'Sex'. Consider:



As for the whale penis, out of context it just looks like a piece of modern sculpture. The comic artist behind 'Oh Joy, Sex Toy', a fantastic, light hearted, sex-positive comic that I would hugely recommend, keeps some of the sex toys she has been sent to review on display because, out of the context of their use, they are very like sculpture.

I really don't see the big deal here, yo.

Edit: this was the particular OJST comic I was thinking of: http://www.ohjoysextoy.com/gspoon/

You miiiight want to put an NSFW warning on the comic link

Noted and amended, though I did sort of think a comic called 'Oh Joy, Sex Toy' might be it's own nsfw warning 

[Omega Entity]

Touché.

[Xader]

Ah, but is it dishwasher safe?

[Pink Jenkin]

And there's a real lack of appreciation for the difference between art and porn here.

That difference which exists only to perpetuate the gap between respectable society and sex workers, based on misogynistic systems of sexual norms developed over thousands of years of fatherhood-centered cultural mythopoeia, and which to this day serves as the key ingredient in the structural, social and legal oppression of the women and men involved in the artistic creation of pornography?

Ah, damn, that came out wrong.

What I mean is: Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

Edit: In less aggressive news, I have to say I'm digging Veronica's flat. I wonder what material that whale dick is made from. I hope it's glass. I love glass dildos. Although I guess it doesn't really look like it. Aww.

[Undrneath]

I think the painting is of someone less tall and skinny than Veronica. Of course I could be wrong.

[Aziraphale]

Ah, but is it dishwasher safe?

Where in the hell's a whale going to find a dishwasher?

[Mr_Rose]

Ah, but is it dishwasher safe?

Where in the hell's a whale going to find a dishwasher?

People will dump anything at sea.

[Neko_Ali]

Ah, but is it dishwasher safe?

Where in the hell's a whale going to find a dishwasher?

Next to the eskimo's ice making machine.

[Is it cold in here?]

He'll get it from a purple monkey.

[Gladstone]

I thought changing that one was unnecessary, but as neither the author or one of the potential people who might be offended that opinion should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

You can just join my headcanon, those babies are cute and they have little shirts that say 'my grandmother spanks people.'

Speaking of babies, though, Jeph's gonna have to address it eventually.  We can't keep tiptoeing around the subject, especially not with Veronica (it would be uncharacteristic of her to not start pressuring Marten to give her grandbabies), but it's obviously a sensitive issue and Jeph doesn't want to do anything offensive.  But I think there's a way we can work around that:

SCENE: Veronica's living room.  All three are sitting on the couch, drinks in hand.
Veronica (Eagerly, fingers steepled in a Mr. Burns-esque pose): "So, my lovelies, together at last..."
Marten: "Mom, before you get started on grandchildren, there's something you should know." He takes Claire's hand.
Veronica: "Yes?"
Claire (confidently): "I'm trans."
Veronica (surprised): "Oh!  Well, thank you for telling me, dear.  I wouldn't have wanted to accidentally say something insensitive."
Claire: "That's okay.  And don't worry, we can always adopt." She pats Marten on the hand.
Marten: *spit-take*
Veronica: "Well!  Marten, I'd say she's a keeper!"

Edited to add: Sorry, I know we've already spent too much time dreaming up scenarios in which Claire comes out to Marten's family and friends, but I feel Marten's mom, at least, needs to know about her, if only to avoid a potential grandbabies-related faux pas as mentioned above.  This'll probably be my last word on the subject.

[Neko_Ali]

I really wouldn't be terribly surprised if Veronica already knows or suspects Claire is trans. Apparently she's known trans people, so she might guess. Or maybe she doesn't. It's really up in the air. Besides that, talking kids when they've been going out what, a week or so seems a bit premature.

[Gladstone]

Besides that, talking kids when they've been going out what, a week or so seems a bit premature.

Yeah, but this is Veronica we're talking about.  She tried to hook him up with a waitress almost immediately after his breakup with Dora.

[cesium133]

Plus there was that previous suggestion of hers that was undone by time travelers. 

[bhtooefr]

And that was over a month before they actually started dating.

[Rghfrgl]

Marten: "Mom, before you get started on grandchildren, there's something you should know." He takes Claire's hand.
Veronica: "Yes?"
Claire (confidently): "I'm trans."

Marten shouldn't be the one to initiate that reveal. It's fine otherwise, though I'd go for something more subtle. If we go that direction at all, since you don't NEED to. But if you do, have her kinda say she knows without actually saying she knows and that she loves Marten and respects his choices.

[Gladstone]

Marten shouldn't be the one to initiate that reveal. It's fine otherwise, though I'd go for something more subtle. If we go that direction at all, since you don't NEED to. But if you do, have her kinda say she knows without actually saying she knows and that she loves Marten and respects his choices.

Yeah, you're right.  Marten made it clear in 2901 that it was Claire's call, so he would certainly follow her lead.  I just figured he'd be able to tell if his mother was going to bring up the grandkids question, but I hadn't considered your or Neko_Ali's observation that she might already know/suspect the truth and would tactfully avoid mentioning grandkids altogether.  Thanks for pointing that out, both of you.