CSotD: A little news, a little weather, mostly neither
Skip to comments
Between the utterly bizarre ass-kissing contest at Trump's first cabinet meeting and the useless questioning of The Little Man Who Wasn't There, there's not much a cartoonist can do to exaggerate things and make a point, and Bruce Plante does about as good a job as anyone, particularly since he manages to deal with the lack of candor and lack of progress without getting into personalities.
That kind of sounds like damning with faint praise, but I honestly don't think there's much to satirize in what's happening. Sessions took a smart, if devious, route, because it's hard to convict someone of perjury if he simply claims not to remember things.
As for the Trump meeting, Senator Schumer nailed it and there's not much more to be said. I've sat in board meetings with yes-men, but it's always been a lot more subtle than that: The people chosen for the various positions are chosen because they agree with the boss or are at least not the type to speak up and challenge him.
However, Trump once again parades his odd, personal neediness. What a sad, strange man, and how sorry I'd feel for him if he were in a position where he couldn't harm anyone!
But this isn't the day I fix it all, so to hell with it, and let's just look at some strips you might want to be reading between fretting over that stuff:
Young Lawyers in Love
Reply All offers up a blend based on the fact that Donna Lewis is both a cartoonist and an attorney and I'm not sure how autobiographical her strip is, but it offers daily snippets of conversations that certainly could be taken from life.
Today, that snippet provides a little insecurity and a little wisdom, the latter based on an old lawyerly dictum that works just as well in bed as it does in the courtroom, and I particularly liked the way Panel Two was what I'd have said had I been sitting across the table.
Though I'll concede that I've too often learned from women that things I think no intelligent, self-respecting man would say or do are not only possible but common, so I guess the question does get asked, but, geez-louise, you might was well ask, "Now that it's too late, would you like to know what a colossal mistake in judgement you made?"
It not only fits in with the attorney rule to "Never ask a question to which you do not already know the answer," but to the common sense rule of "If you have to ask …"
A fool for a lawyer
I suppose I should have framed this as a Juxtaposition, but Pros & Cons does play with the lawyerly part of that rule and the best part of this strip, which was originally called "A Lawyer, A Doctor and A Cop" is that the lawyer is an utter nincompoop, so that the strips in which he figures largely center on his ability to say stupid things and screw things up and, as seen in that final panel, be completely oblivious to his own blunders.
By contrast, the cop is cynical and a bit thick and the doctor is an intelligent psychologist with transparently foolish patients, while dour wisdom is provided by the cop's sister, who works the diner where they meet. It provides Kieran Meehan with a wide-ranging canvas in which he can find a suitable spot for all sorts of funny stuff.
A real, live girl
And if, instead of pursuing the legal hook in Reply All, we focus on the romantic aspect, we come to Luann, in which Tiffany suddenly drops a large piece of self-awareness on Gunther, who responds with some unexpected insight of his own.
If you bailed on Luann back in her high school days, you might want to give the strip another shot, because the college years have offered up some interesting discursions. Example here is that, while Gunther remains a bit of a nerd, his issues with his mother and her boyfriend are dark for a strip that once obsessed over silly crushes, and his suggestion about girls who are "more … real" reminds faithful readers that he went all the way to South America with a girl only to realize that he didn't share her absolute dedication to improving the lives of the rural peasantry.
And on a less cosmic level, today's strip made me chuckle and reflect on how, while it's great to be with a girl who looks terrific at a nice restaurant for dinner, that sure can't be a deciding factor in anything. You, too, should be able to clean up and look good, but that can't be your only talent, either.
Work in progress, except for the "work" part
Speaking of looking your best, Tina continues her odyssey through unemployment, and Rina Piccolo continues to let us watch her reinvent a successful, appealing character. Piccolo has often shared her sketchbook on her blog, but what she's doing in the strip is an astonishingly open and courageous communication with readers.
The more she presses, the more I give up trying to guess or anticipate where she's headed. This is the point on the ride where you just grab onto the saddlehorn and trust the horse.
Tina's Groove is currently providing a lesson on creative process that, if you care about this stuff at all, you should really be watching.
Need some good news?
To return to politics for a moment, here's a pleasant piece of news: Ann Telnaes has a book coming out, which you can pre-order now and then be completely surprised when it arrives shortly after January 31.
I wish it were coming out in time for the holidays, but that's well-balanced by the fact that it's being published by Fantagraphics, so the quality will be worth the wait.
We can always hope that, by then, that it will be shelved in "history" or "nostalgia" and not "horror."
Now here's the weather:
(If you're not on the US East Coast at the moment, be grateful.)
Comments 3
Comments are closed.