Comic for Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

Posted: 7:20 am, Tuesday, January 29th

Dare I say it, I am kind of proud of that houndstooth jacket Katie Wolf is sporting in the last panel? Does everyone remember Katie Wolf? I believe she has provoked more negative reaction than just about any character in the strip's history. (So, of course, I bring her back. What the hell is wrong with me?)

Whooo, the trial of the century has concluded! Dear Lord, "trial" is not the slightest bit a misnomer. So, now that I can talk about it, we were on a medical malpractice trial involving a breech birth resulting in the kid having torticollis. It occurred ten years ago (in fact, the kid turned 10 midway through the trial) and most of the evidence and testimony centered around the medical records, since the only person who remembered the incident was on all sorts of painkillers at the time. (Those zany doctors! I'm kidding, of course, it was the mother.) Sitting there in the jury booth, I was struck repeatedly with the idea that I could lawyer circles around either of the counsuls without any training whatsoever. When we got charged with the case, it was bloody obvious to me that the hospital was innocenet of malpratice, and so, of course, it was a 3-3 tie (civil court, in Brooklyn because that's my only experience, is a 6-person jury, and you need a 5-1 or a 6-0 vote). One girl was wishy-washy on it and also reasonably intelligent. The other two were the two people who, every time they opened their mouths in the jury room, made me want to kill them. The girl to my left, who I took to be reasonably intelligent and also saw reading a copy of Harper's, so I figured we'd be on the same side, and I set to work, immediately getting the wishy-washy girl. (All three of them, it should be mentioned, thought the hospital should be innocent until the plaintiff's closing argument - that is, until the last thing they had heard. So he's either really good, or they have the attention span of hamsters.) Of the two remaining no votes, one woman said that she thought the hospital screwed up, but that it didn't actually cause the neck injury (these were slightly differentiated in the question sheet). So I figured we could get her. So the girl and I argued with the other woman, who was dumber than a box of rocks and took our arguments and said "That's exactly right!" and proceeded to repeat them back to us, inserting or omitting exactly enough words to make whatever she was saying the antithesis of what we had said. When we took a second vote, the other lady switched to our side, giving us a 5-1 vote, and getting us the fuck out of Dodge. Nobody looked at the lawyer, the mom, or the boy while the verdict was read. Just goes to show, don't get your lawyer from an ad on the subway.

Of course, now I have to go back to work, and just in time for that, my throat is sore.

I have now successfully avoided each one of Shitwit's State of the Union addresses. Please, God, let me be able to listen to the next president for more than thirty seconds without twitching uncontrollably. Was there anything of worth in there, gang? I haven't gone over the papers yet and may not get a chance at the office, what with having been out for like two weeks.

OK, so I said things would be back to normal, but I kind of lied, since I didn't have a chance to interweb at all yesterday. So tomorrow ought to be our first normal day back, since even on the busiest days, I usually have time to at least dick around for a few minutes. I pledge to make that some efficient dicking around! Also, the calvalcade of birthdays has come to a conclusion, with my friend Spacegirl entering her 30s yesterday. I have spoken on the phone more in the past 48 hours than I had in the previous three months, I believe, possibly a contributing factor to my sore throat.

Excelsior!

bullfrog

Ondy -- Tuesday, January 29 2008, 08:28 am

Everyone loves a good heel. Katie Wolf rules!

They said in law school that people remember the last thing they hear - closing arguments. Sounds like your experience proved true. Good to know...

Has anyone ever had success with those radio call-in contests? I've always assumed the odds of winning in a metropolitan area are absurd.

I did, but it was in Albany, on a Friday night in late December. Reggie Ho won tickets to Nelly or somebody on Power 105 in the New York area a few years ago.

my friend Cait won 50 lotto tickets (she didn't know what the prize was ahead of calling) in Rochester.

my little bro wins stuff in St. Louis from the radio all the time. but he's in construction and listens to the radio all day long, so he may have more opportunity than most of us.

So, basically, E, "everyone but you" is the answer.

So, in the next strip, Jen is hauled away, claiming that offing Wolf was justifiable homicide?

Can I make a suggestion for a new food link? Linked off of the Simple Recipes page from yesterday was one for a web page called A Cat in the Kitchen (http://www.acatinthekitchen.com/). The cook is a Swedish woman named Dagmar who experiments with cooking while her three cats watch in the kitchen. The specific recipe Elsie had linked to involved potato skins with blue cheese and spinach, which I might see about making for the big game.

Also, anyone who names their cats after Super Mario /Japanese characters is a plus for me.

Let me follow it for a few days. I should probably add Elise's Smitten Kitchen link, too. Even more than the deliciousness of the food, I'd love to know how the hell those people make their food so damned pretty. They must have better lighting in Sweden than in Brooklyn. Funny, because we're probably both using HERMINGEDERFEN by IKEA.

I LOVE SmittenKitchen! Read it daily, basically and she's fun to read and definitely has gorgeous pictures. Apparently there's some sort of "food photo kit" that you can get (basically a box with a white background and a light over it).

The one thing that kills me about the food blogs are comments like "this bread is quick enough that you could make it after work and eat it for dinner!" and then you read the instructions which call for letting the bread rise for an hour, twice, and baking for 40 minutes. Um, yeah, we wouldn't eat til 10.30 if I did that...

And I forgot 'til just now that it's the Florida primary for the GOP today. Please, Florida, back Mitt Romney. Because there's no way that asshole can win the presidency.

Or Giuliani. I'm willing to trade another week and a half of his lunacy if it means increased obfuscation of the primary process.

Very often aspects of the food are not real. I learned this from a show that featured food photographers. I can attest this is NOT the case with Gourmet and Bon Appitit. The CN library (where I spent a lot of time) and the test kitchen were right next to each other. One of the hidden perks of that job was getting to sample the post shoot foods they left out for passers-by to enjoy. Once they came into the library and offered Flo (the librarian) a whole turkey featured in the Thanksgiving issue.

There are literally dozens of takes before they pick the one image they go with. It's mostly all about careful presentation, controlled lighting, and quick work. Food starts to look grim after a few minutes.

I can almost imagine 2.0 waddling in after a long day at work photographing various foods. And Bullfrog has to deal with crappy instant coffee machines.

A link listing various potent potable recipes would be handy too. Surely Lissa would know the very best in martini and other liquor recipes.

She just eats the leftover food. And I brought in a real coffee pot, so no more Flavia for me! (Except today, when I'm feeling a bit under the weather, and am drinking tea.)

Martini:

Fill a shaker with ice and Bombay Sapphire. Stir until chilled (this prevents the ice from breaking and further diluting the gin). Pour into a chilled martini glass until almost full. Add three olives (preferably salmon-stuffed olives - they're in the Goya section, and are crazy cheap), and then some olive juice. Go to town.

And 2.0 floats on gossamer wings. I'm the one that waddles.

Yeah, really. Geesh! I don't waddle. I would characterize what I do as more of a stride punctuated by a little bounce (this is a family trait).

Also I don't photograph food, at CN I researched and archived vintage illustrations and photographs.

Shoot. Forgot the purpose of my returning to this page.

NYCers. There is an Obama rally in Times Square:

Broadway for Barack Wednesday, January 30th 5:30pm-7:30pm Meeting place: St. James Theatre (44th Street, just east of Eighth Avenue)

For more detailed info see:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4rc4f

This article was a downer on so many levels. Only read it if you're already having a bad day.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120156034185223519.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_page_one

The video is silly and doesn't add much.

I just got a call from the plaintiff's attorney for a follow-up interview! That was unexpected.

There is also apparently an Obama march across the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday at noon. I don't have details, but a woman in my church is going, and so am I.

It's been months - months! - since I've crossed the Brooklyn Bridge. Post the details when you have 'em, man.

The Brooklyn Bridge Walk details: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/meeting/4rkd8