Everything is Fine Without Mira
Today’s For Better or For Worse was very interesting to me, because it appeared to me that Deanna was telling her mother to “buzz off and don’t try to help me because I don’t need help”, while at the same time, her kids were clinging to her like they were filled with static electricity. This was a stark contrast to the leaked January letters, and so my favourite snark of the day was as Michael Patterson, where he took the things in the January letters it said Elly and John did for Deanna and Mike and compared them to the things it said Mira and Wilf did. Suprisingly enough, I didn’t even have to change it at all to snark it. The January monthly letter writer’s description of Mira and Wilf put them vastly ahead of Elly and John in not only generosity but practical generosity. For example, the idea of letting Mike and Deanna get a great deal on some scratch-and-dent children's furniture is pretty darn funny, and cannot help but to think the monthly letter writer was snarking the strip herself when she wrote it.
With Constable Paul Wright, I researched Ojibway overcrowding in Canada. I found an on-line 2004 report of the United Nations investigating the poor condition of Aboriginal tribes in Canada, and so all the things Paul quoted were from that report. Needless to say, it was a laundry list of awful conditions, of which overcrowding was mentioned but was by no means the worst thing. This worked out to be a nice contrast to April being upset over the loss of her room to Mike and Dee.
Jeremy Jones jumped in with the_berserker posting as Duncan and pointed out the "uncharacteristic for April" animal pictures on the wall in today's strip. aprilp_katje countered with the “Liz possessed by Shiimsa” subplot, qnjones originated several months ago, which was a clever way to cover the matter.
Howard Bunt discussed the healing of burnt skin. It was not very funny and was more character development than anything, to set a time table for getting the Kelpfroths and Howard out of the hospital.
Tomorrow’s strip: I hoped for the “Deanna hissing at Mike” scene described in the monthly letter but it appears that was yet another retcon written by an embarrassed Lynnion. My guess is Sunday will be the New Years Eve party described by Iris in the January monthly letter, where we have a touching moment with Jim trying to dance. I plan to put Jeremy Jones in as the DJ in that party, unless the strip shows the DJ too closely and he doesn’t look like Jeremy. Monday is most likely Liz heading off to Mtigwaki, and what could very well be the final appearance of Constable Paul Wright, if things go as I expect and they break up. Since Paul is going up with Liz, I think the breakup will occur in the first week, and then Liz will be comforted by the people in Mtigwaki in the following week. We shall see if I am right.
With Constable Paul Wright, I researched Ojibway overcrowding in Canada. I found an on-line 2004 report of the United Nations investigating the poor condition of Aboriginal tribes in Canada, and so all the things Paul quoted were from that report. Needless to say, it was a laundry list of awful conditions, of which overcrowding was mentioned but was by no means the worst thing. This worked out to be a nice contrast to April being upset over the loss of her room to Mike and Dee.
Jeremy Jones jumped in with the_berserker posting as Duncan and pointed out the "uncharacteristic for April" animal pictures on the wall in today's strip. aprilp_katje countered with the “Liz possessed by Shiimsa” subplot, qnjones originated several months ago, which was a clever way to cover the matter.
Howard Bunt discussed the healing of burnt skin. It was not very funny and was more character development than anything, to set a time table for getting the Kelpfroths and Howard out of the hospital.
Tomorrow’s strip: I hoped for the “Deanna hissing at Mike” scene described in the monthly letter but it appears that was yet another retcon written by an embarrassed Lynnion. My guess is Sunday will be the New Years Eve party described by Iris in the January monthly letter, where we have a touching moment with Jim trying to dance. I plan to put Jeremy Jones in as the DJ in that party, unless the strip shows the DJ too closely and he doesn’t look like Jeremy. Monday is most likely Liz heading off to Mtigwaki, and what could very well be the final appearance of Constable Paul Wright, if things go as I expect and they break up. Since Paul is going up with Liz, I think the breakup will occur in the first week, and then Liz will be comforted by the people in Mtigwaki in the following week. We shall see if I am right.
posted by howard at 11:17 PM
6 Comments:
Continuing on yesterday's discussion on kid films and parents' jobs--interesting that two of the films you listed had dead mothers. Years ago, I remember reading an article that criticized the "conveniently dead mother" motif in kid films. Mother is out of the way, Dad has to fend for himself with the kids. But it's been such a long time since I read that article that I'm fuzzy on the details of the critique. :)
My wife and I did see the movie The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith in it recently. It was not a kid's picture with its PG-13 rating. In it the mother abandons the family when the going gets tough. She's not a career mom, but in this picture, it is pretty clear the degradation the dad and son undergo without her would have been avoided had she not left.
You're right, though. There were no single mom films in the bunch for this year. Now we did see in the previews of upcoming a movies, Are We Done Yet?, which was a sequel to 2005 Are We There Yet?, a horrible movie starring Ice Cube, trying to woo a single mom by agreeing to transport her 2 vile, hateful children across country to her at some kind of job-related thing she was doing, when her slacker ex-husband bails on doing the job. It was however another dad-figure having to fend for himself with the kids, and he proved himself to the woman by being willing to put up with all the abuse heaped on him by the children.
The previews showed the new movie with Ice Cube now married to the woman, while the children continued to be just as vile and abusive.
Let's face it. Women are simply too competent as mothers to be fodders for comedy. Abusive children and idiot fathers are comedy gold. However, if you are an earnest daughter, seeking a career in a traditionally male field, you can have a strong-willed overprotective father in your way, while your traditional mother supports you.
BTW, tomorrow's strip focuses on Jim and Iris. It's set on New Year's Eve, though it seems to occur in the morning, as Iris informs Jim that "tonight is New Year's Eve."
Does it match what was in the January letter for Grandpa Jim and Iris going to New Years Eve party in the old person common room downstairs with a pot luck and dancing? That's the one I am planning to have Jeremy Jones DJ.
I know one of the things you have problems with on April's Real Blog is the timing of saying something happened prior to today for the day's strip so April can to comment on it, when Lynn intends for the strip to be running real-time for that day of publication.
The strip doesn't make a reference to their evening plans, if any. Iris helps Jim from his bed to his walker and then from his walker to his chair. She compares their "moving together as one" to dancing, mentions the upcoming evening being NYE, and marvels that they've made it through another year together. Jim smiles and does a little hand gesture (with both hands) that Iris takes to mean he wants to dance, so she extracts him from his chair so that they can.
I guess our gamble will be whether Monday's strip shows NYE, or jumps ahead. I don't see a great problem with tomorrow's strip, since it does seem to be in the morning. Old folks generally tend to be early risers, so it won't be implausible for April to have heard about it when it's time to do the morning entry. :)
It doesn't sound like there is any problem with Jeremy being a New Year Eve DJ for Iris and Jim's group. Excellent.
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