CSotD: Intellectual priorities
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Two related strips about two very different slackers: Nemi, a perennially 20-something Scandanavian goth chick, and Big Nate, a perennial American middle-school student, each with an intelligent, well-grounded friend who acts as straight-man.
I don't have a lot to say about this except that I was struck by the odd parallels both in gag structure of the two individual strips — basically the straight-man arguing with logic but with no impact on a blasé friend — and between characters who are so different in every other way.
I suppose the strips also struck me because last evening I had dinner with my 15-year-old granddaughter, which consisted of grabbing some take-out sushi and going to the park to walk the dog and talk. And I found myself struggling for the name of someone who was there and, as James Joyce wrote, "almosting it."
It's not nearly as frustrating to not come up with it at all as it is to have it just out of grasp. This was around 6 p.m., and, of course, four hours later, in the middle of the football game, the name popped right into place, at a time and place when it could not be more unnecessary.
Fortunately, the someone whose name had fled — "Piper" — has four legs and really doesn't care what you call her, as long as you pet her.
Normally, at the park, we know the names of all the dogs and none of the people, and most of us are just fine with that.
The entire phenomenon depends on what information you consider "useless."
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