Recent Comments

1. almost 5 years ago on Amanda the Great

   Years ago my brother moved away and left me here in the desert, and he also left me this monster of a Golden Retriever named Ginger, who was too old and ill to move. Seriously, she could have won Biggest of Breed at Westminster! A short time later I met my Tiny Lady Veterinarian, and only a couple of weeks after that Ginger had a severe downturn.

   I wasn’t expecting anything in return and it caught me by surprise when Ginger’s generous helping of ashes arrive in a tin that looked just like the one used by the Witch to keep her Turkish Delights in the old BBC production of Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I always liked the idea that if a neighbor dropped by to borrow a little ‘Ginger’, I would be ready.

2. almost 5 years ago on Amanda the Great

   Ah, jeez. When I think about how I used to get this way about Toys R Us. I was so glad when I had my first kid so that people in the store would stop looking at me strange.

3. almost 5 years ago on Amanda the Great

   What about Edmund Fitzgerald? I’ve heard that some performers get so tired of their most popular stuff that they eventually refuse to perform them. I read recently that Frank Sinatra would explode in fits of obscenities at the mention of Strangers in the Night.

4. almost 5 years ago on Now Recharging

   This reminds me of Golden Age science fiction stories about androids, which were literally built like robots by some unexplained means but were then at least superficially indistinguishable from living people. They ate, slept, could have babies, grew old and sometime had no idea they were artificial.

5. almost 5 years ago on Now Recharging

   I would have expected Welsh Robot.

6. almost 5 years ago on Dick Tracy

   I’ve found illustrations from the opera Carmen (She’ll be Carmen ‘round the mountain when she comes!) from as early as the 1880s that show Flamenco costumes very close to what Asp is wearing, except at that time the jackets were very short-waisted and worn with a sash or cummerbund. Curiously, the ’bolo’ tie was actually the drawstrings from the hat that were looped around under the collar of the shirt and could be mistaken for a tie. Which may or may not have anything to do with how Asp got his costume.

   I get teased a bit for being the only Native American who listens to opera. I’m sure that’s not true, but close.

7. almost 5 years ago on Dick Tracy

   I did a quick look and the suit and bolo tie seems to have been there forever, but that classic Jose Greco hat seems to be new. Possibly when Asp was first given that look years ago, the Flamenco suit was recognized as something that out of context could look very foreign and mysterious to readers at that time. As for the hat, I have wondered if the guys behind this comic completed the Flamenco look with the flat-brimmed hat and then sat back to wait for people to notice.

8. almost 5 years ago on Dick Tracy

   I’m usually not one to comment about the character design, but does Asp look like he should be dancing Flamenco?

9. almost 5 years ago on Arlo and Janis

   I have such a relationship, except that I’m the one getting the bear hug from behind. My Tiny Lady Veterinarian in half an inch short of five feet, so I never respond without first making certain that its not one of the kids.

10. almost 5 years ago on Gasoline Alley

    Only if she found some way to mooch a meal there.