CSotD: A few laughs, a new bookmark
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Gonna start out with a couple of quick takes before getting onto a more substantive topic:
It's not so much that I like the current Sherman's Lagoon, though I have been chuckling this week. But today's was a good demonstration of the way Toomey handles a punchline.
I haven't made much of a secret of my affection for the Bob Newhart Show (the real one, not the extended dream sequence). This feels like one of those Jerry-and-Carol exchanges in the waiting room area by the elevators. And while that might be enhanced by my awareness of the death of Marcia Wallace this past week, it was consciously sparked by Thornton's response reminding me of Peter Bonerz's deft, dismissive style.
A lot of cartoonists could learn from Toomey's method of pumping up a droll punchline without treading on it.
And this was timely …
Another for the "oh thank god then it isn't just me" file, this time from Dilbert.
I used Skype for a workshop with my kid reporters Saturday and remembered how much I despise Skype.
Thing is, I like what Skype does, when I can persuade it to go from the sign-in screen to the actual application, which can take some massaging.
But once it is in place, it sure does hold on.
Not in the sense of keeping the connection open with the other computer, mind you. We had to re-place the call three or four times in the course of the two-hour workshop, and there were several other episodes of semi-lost connection where it paused to rebuffer for a minute or two.
More in the sense of making me wonder, once the call ended and I tried to sign off, if there is such a thing as a virtual restraining order.
I finally gave up and rebooted to get rid of it.
Throwing my laptop into the ocean was next.
Actually, this is next.
(But I'm hoping the disturbing resemblance between the pic on the Google Hangout page and the relevant-to-Skype "Over Attached Girlfriend" meme is not a foreshadowing of my being about to go from bad to worse.)
And now, today's main feature …
Okay, total and complete mood shift:
First of all, you should absolutely have a bookmark at The Nib, the comics site at the Medium which is curated by Matt Bors. Maybe it's a result of his years as a starving artist, but he's connected to some really interesting cartoonists and even the ones he features that I don't particularly care for are well worth having seen.
His latest posting is a report from inside Syria by David Axe, with whom he collaborated on "War is Boring," a graphic memoir so striking that I bought two copies so I could give one to my veteran-son.
Axe, along with Joe Sacco, is at the top of the genre in this form of graphic reportage, and Bors has given him a page at Medium.com. Most of his contributions, mirrored alongside other war reporting on the War is Boring page there, are memoirs with photos, all are captivating and this one is a particularly depressing example of Whac-A-Mole that nobody else seems to be covering.
I know about it now, and so do you. I believe the combination you are looking for is Ctrl-D.
Along those same lines, Bors is also co-curator of Cartoon Movement, an international cartoon site where graphic reportage is also a common feature. This week, they featured this report by Kenyan cartoonist Victor Ndula on food security in rural parts of that country.
When media critics talk about how young people are turning to Jon Stewart for the news, they make the mistake of thinking it's because he is so funny, and of course that's part of it.
But part of his humor is a constant undercurrent of "Do these people think we are idiots?"
Yesterday, I stopped at the newsrack in the grocery store and saw that USA Today is now down to about the size of a gum wrapper, only 32 pages long and costs two dollars. Now, assuming a 60/40 newshole (that's very generous), that's two dollars for about 19 pages of actual news, and, when I say "actual news," I mean coverage that is mostly about Miley Cyrus, the Kardashians, diet tips and national and international news you read yesterday on-line and then saw on the network news.
So apparently the answer is yes: Yes, they think we're idiots.
And that isn't funny.
Jon Stewart is funny, but much of the attraction is that he respects his audience.
As does Matt Bors.
Please get out of the new road if you can't lend a hand.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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