Archive for the 'criticism' Category
Classic Bil Keane
Every since Bil Keane started handing over the reins to Family Circus to his eldest son, I’ve enjoyed playing an occasional game called “Jeff or Bil” in which you guess who wrote the strip of the day. In this case there’s no question of Bil’s authorship.
Never mind the pabulum gagline. Just marvel [...]
A Failure to Communicate? Or a Refusal to Understand?
Sigh. My mother’s request that I invite my sister to my house for Thanksgiving has opened up a whole can of worms. Unfortunately, my father is doing his best imitation of a Democratic senator or a right-wing hack: I’m not sure which.
The issue is easy to understand: my sister threw an adult version [...]
A Final FOOBish Thought
It’s been quite awhile since I wrote about “For Better or For Worse”, which has entered the “hybrid” phase of the strip now that Lynn Johnston has stopped writing new episodes. Instead, the syndicate prints reruns from WAY back in the day, framed occasionally by a sorta-kinda narrative taking place in the present, usually [...]
Read More..>>Fusion
I don’t know why, but sometime last week a brand new Gilette Fusion razor arrived at my house as part of some promotional campaign. It’s got five blades, plus a single blade in the back for precision areas like sideburns.
I tend to be kind of a luddite about my shaving equipment: I was really [...]
Read More..>>The Daily News Misses the Mark
After listening to residents criticize his department at a community meeting, Johnson asked why no one immediately came forward when 4-year-old Nashay Little was shot, or when 10-year-old Faheem Thomas-Childs was killed. But when police shoot someone, witnesses are plentiful.”
The Daily News misses its target, and in a big way with this unsigned editorial.
“Johnson” of [...]
Some FOOBish Fulminations
I’m too lazy to search through my comments at Binky Betsy’s FOOBiverse, but beside the dreadful and nausea-inducing banality of the long-drawn-out-yet-inevitable Liz-Granthony pair-up, the only thing more horrible was the oddly infantile images that represent the couple’s newly-rekindled romantic love.
In these two panels from the July 6 strip, Anthony expresses his love for Lizzie [...]
Read More..>>Why I Oppose Privatization in Most Cases
Sprint ditches customers who complain too much
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp, which recently launched an advertising campaign to attract new customers, is disconnecting more than 1,000 subscribers for calling its customer service lines too often and making what the company called unreasonable requests.
[snip]
“These customers were calling to a degree that we felt was [...]
Opportunities and Lessons
Last week, I didn’t get as much of a chance to write about Sam-related issues as I would have liked: between practicing for a wedding and three days worth of bluegrass gigs, I only finished about half of what I wanted to write about, my interactions with Sam’s maternal grandparents and how those interactions probably [...]
Read More..>>Richard Cohen: Apologist for Felons, and Total Moron. Also, a Meditation on Responsibility
This is not an entirely trivial matter since government officials should not lie to grand juries, but neither should they be called to account for practicing the dark art of politics. As with sex or real estate, it is often best to keep the lights off.
That’s the inestimable Richard Cohen, who is so infernally stupid [...]
FOOB: No Fat Chicks!
Updated Below
Today’s FOOB is more than a little offensive. This morning’s message from Lynn can only be stated as “No Fat Chicks!”
If it wasn’t made clear enough yesterday that Julia is inferior to Lizzie, with the wonky teeth and the gaping maw, now we see that Julia is also -horror of horrors- FAT!
Worse, she [...]
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