Comic for Thursday, August 10th, 2006

Posted: 12:10 am, Thursday, August 10th

Thought I'd try something a little different today. I had a more realistic-looking nose on Lissa at one point - with nostrils and everything - but decided against it. Didn't even try realistic-looking eyes. I like those the way they are. Anyway, just 'cause it's only two panels doesn't mean I slacked off - somehow, this took me the exact same amount of time almost every strip does (right around an hour). (Gabe from Penny-Arcade yesterday was talking about how he went from pencils to inks in three hours yesterday, and then had to color - shit, I wish I had that kind of time.) Anyway, there you go.

This video is funny for about twenty seconds, and then you just want Maury to stop torturing the poor girl. I agree with someone in the comments - this girl was very likely abused.

I mentioned the McSweeney's thing that 2.0 and I are seeing in a few weeks, but here's the official announcement from the McSweeney's site. I think we're getting the best overall lineup, but the LA stop sounds awesome - I love Andy Richter. Speaking of McSweeney's, I'm tearing through the Better of McSweeney's we got with our subscription, and I just had my first run-in with Zadie Smith. She wrote a little story, The Girl with the Bangs, that was about six pages long and pretty awesome. Anybody read any of her stuff? Is it all this good?

I made brief mention of Jim Sanson in yesterday's Daily Irish - he was the kicker during my tenure under the Dome, and had a success rate of maybe 60% on field goals. This article's about the kicking competition going on right now at Notre Dame, and talks about how Sanson was demonized (probably) unfairly for missing an PAT during my freshman-year USC game, and then left hung out to dry over the next three years as Bob Davie didn’t bother to recruit anyone better. Sanson got death threats after the USC game, since he cost the Irish a Fiesta Bowl bid against Penn State and left Lou a loser in his last game under the Dome, but I'm willing to say that was a total overreaction. So this piece paints Sanson as a tragic figure, and he plays along. Sanson, shockingly, does not mention how he used to trace his foot on dorm walls with a Sharpie, and autograph the footprint. I guess I'm telling this story just to get it out there that Sanson was kind of a dick. And a really lousy field goal kicker. (By the way, without even trying, I can think of three games offhand where Sanson cost us the game in my collitch career – USC in ’96 and ’97, and my last game as a student against Stanford in ’99. Fuckin’ Stanford! They were coached by Willingham, for God’s sake!)

Pajiba dubbed Freaks and Geeks the best short-lived series ever, but I stopped reading a few paragraphs in when it said that the mean girl started to come around. I don’t want anything ruined for me. So far, I think I liked Undeclared better, but that’s probably just because I watched it first. My own personal favorite short-lived series was The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., which I am absolutely shocked to learn had 27 episodes in a year, and even more so astounded that somehow it’s out on DVD and I was not aware of this. Hot damn! I’ll let you all know if it holds up. It was kind of a Western if Jules Verne had written westerns – full of futuristic things that, of course, came true. And also this weird orb thing from, I dunno, space or something. The theme song was fantastic, and is usually featured in NBC’s Olympic coverage. (Apparently, this came out on DVD less than a month ago, so I don’t feel too out-of-touch. Damn, Brisco County, Jr.! This is exciting. I wish I had a copy of If Chins Could Kill to reread to get me in the proper Campbell-y spirit.)

Speaking of TV, is there anything better than the MST3K theme song? (From this Fark link about ten best and worst sci-fi intros.)

Great interview (a few years old) with Howard Zinn I found yesterday. His People’s History of the United States should be required reading to graduate high school in this country. Which means, of course, that it never will be. (Extra bonus points because he mentions my dad's alma mater at the end.)(Double your pleasure with an interview - that I haven't read yet - from 2001 with Howie, also.)

Absolutely ludacrisp item from Tim Keown's list on Page 2 yesterday:

Everyone needs to understand something -- those Rockies, they deserved it: After Giants fans pelted the Rockies with debris Friday night after Barry Bonds' ejection by home-plate umpire Ron Kulpa for arguing a strike call, Giants announcer Mike Krukow said, "What did Kulpa expect?"

No one is more delusional than a San Francisco Giants fan. Not the Iranian president, not Charles Manson, not anybody.

I wasn't going to have this guy be the nightmare today, 'til I read his blog. Yeesh, never read a MySpace blog. You'll never believe this, but the guy wearing the luchador mask is proposing a tax plan that could never in eternity work. Unless the sales tax he's proposing is something to the rate of 170%.

bullfrog

Brisco County Jr. How can they cancel a show co-starring the Shogun of Harlem!?!? Great show, good to know it's on DVD so I can get it and put it in the pile of Things to Be Watched (under Kids in the Hall, above Home Movies)

SHO'NUFF!

Zero

Grafe just sent me this tidbit from the Times, about the unholy alliance of McDonald's and Hummer. It costs $96 to fill up one of those fucking things these days, at a shocking 11 mpg. Damn!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/business/media/10adco.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

I don't know about Zadie Smith's first two novels, but ON BEAUTY is *wonderful* -- the best contemporary novel I've read this year.

Ugh, more from the Times on how exactly screwed-up this country is. (But in a less-discouraging way than I usually blog about.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/fashion/10vacation.html?8dpc

Thanks, CK, I'll check it out.

This is awesome http://snakesonaplane.varitalk.com/ Samuel L. Jackson will call you!

I made Tree's day with that, Sec.

I don't think it works if it gets voicemail, though, because Grafe didn't hear anything when I sent it to him.

Shoot, I meant to put this up in the main post where it would be more prominent. Anyone who's got a DQ nearby, go treat yourselves to a Blizzard today. All the proceeds today go to the Children's Miracle Network.

http://www.dairyqueen.com/en-US/mtd

I'm looking at you, New Jerseyans - those things are friggin' everywhere in that state.

Speaking of bad fuel mileage (or in this case it's your own damn fault)...

(From Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback's Factoids that Interest Only Me)

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/peter_king/08/06/mmqb/3.html

So you buy a pick-up and custome install a 107 gallon diesal gas tank. $320+ to fill it up?! Yikes. (It still probably gets 9 miles per gallon.)