Gerald and April on a Date - Imagine That
In today’s For Better or For Worse, we had the very first time April and Gerald were shown on a date, without anyone else there. Considering they have been a couple since 2003, this shows more than almost anything else that Lynn Johnston has not been paying a lot of attention to April as a teenager for awhile. Every time the website goes for a family portrait picture, April is invariably back to her little girl stage again. I think this is how Lynn prefers April. The basic plotlines for April are:
1. She’s going to become a veterinarian.
2. She has a band, which plays music for fun.
3. Her parents don’t trust her
4. Becky is evil
5. Shannon is her comforter
6. She had zits once.
Almost everything coming up in the last 8 months of the strip is going to be geared towards getting Mike into the Patterson homestead permanently, Elizabeth getting married and Grandpa Jim’s recovery. April has a part to play in all that…bridesmaid. April also has the unofficial role of cranky teenager through all the other proceedings, particularly if it can be used to drive the humour.
Today for me was very busy. 2 services at church, then a Bible study, then a Super Bowl party, and then a family gathering to celebrate my birthday, which is tomorrow. I was barely able to squeeze even one post in. It’s been over a year ago now, Jeremy Jones used to date a character former ARB poster adrianne did called Alexandra Love. adrianne infused her character with her own love of hockey and picked Alexandra’s favourite local team to be the Milton Icehawks. In order to keep up with Alexandra and the real-time nature of posting with her, I found out dozens of details about the Milton Icehawks, including where their by-the-minute scores were posted on-line, so I could literally follow a game through real-time posting. When today’s strip popped up, I immediately recognized what was being shown.
In the hot desert of Tucson, Arizona, ice hockey is almost nonexistent. The University of Arizona has the Arizona Icecats hockey team which competes in the NCAA hockey league. Phoenix, Arizona has the Coyotes NHL team, but that is a 2-hour drive away. That’s it. In stark contrast to this is the Ontario Provincial Jr. A Hockey League, where it appears around Toronto, every little town has their own hockey team and arena. So, it doesn’t seem too farfetched to believe Milborough would have one. The only thing farfetched is the idea April would think being a hockey fan was hard work. She should have been to a hockey game a long time before this. She should know what going to a hockey game is like.
On the other hand, in April’s Real Blog, we have often snarked the fact that April has virtually no school life aside from attending classes and her band. According to the strip, she has been working part-time at Lilliput’s Bookstore for her mom since 2004, and continued to do so after the store was sold to Moira Kinney. This effectively means April has no life aside from band practice, school and work. Poor April. She’s almost 16 years old, and today’s strip was possibly the first time she had ever been to a hockey game, or at least experienced the game as a hockey fan.
Tomorrow’s strip: Back to Grandpa Jim in recovery. The message this week is that Jim can feed himself. It would be nice to see April playing some music for him or to see his 2 helper ladies show up. I expect what we will have instead is just Iris and Jim and a series of almost offensive jokes at the expense of his physical condition.
1. She’s going to become a veterinarian.
2. She has a band, which plays music for fun.
3. Her parents don’t trust her
4. Becky is evil
5. Shannon is her comforter
6. She had zits once.
Almost everything coming up in the last 8 months of the strip is going to be geared towards getting Mike into the Patterson homestead permanently, Elizabeth getting married and Grandpa Jim’s recovery. April has a part to play in all that…bridesmaid. April also has the unofficial role of cranky teenager through all the other proceedings, particularly if it can be used to drive the humour.
Today for me was very busy. 2 services at church, then a Bible study, then a Super Bowl party, and then a family gathering to celebrate my birthday, which is tomorrow. I was barely able to squeeze even one post in. It’s been over a year ago now, Jeremy Jones used to date a character former ARB poster adrianne did called Alexandra Love. adrianne infused her character with her own love of hockey and picked Alexandra’s favourite local team to be the Milton Icehawks. In order to keep up with Alexandra and the real-time nature of posting with her, I found out dozens of details about the Milton Icehawks, including where their by-the-minute scores were posted on-line, so I could literally follow a game through real-time posting. When today’s strip popped up, I immediately recognized what was being shown.
In the hot desert of Tucson, Arizona, ice hockey is almost nonexistent. The University of Arizona has the Arizona Icecats hockey team which competes in the NCAA hockey league. Phoenix, Arizona has the Coyotes NHL team, but that is a 2-hour drive away. That’s it. In stark contrast to this is the Ontario Provincial Jr. A Hockey League, where it appears around Toronto, every little town has their own hockey team and arena. So, it doesn’t seem too farfetched to believe Milborough would have one. The only thing farfetched is the idea April would think being a hockey fan was hard work. She should have been to a hockey game a long time before this. She should know what going to a hockey game is like.
On the other hand, in April’s Real Blog, we have often snarked the fact that April has virtually no school life aside from attending classes and her band. According to the strip, she has been working part-time at Lilliput’s Bookstore for her mom since 2004, and continued to do so after the store was sold to Moira Kinney. This effectively means April has no life aside from band practice, school and work. Poor April. She’s almost 16 years old, and today’s strip was possibly the first time she had ever been to a hockey game, or at least experienced the game as a hockey fan.
Tomorrow’s strip: Back to Grandpa Jim in recovery. The message this week is that Jim can feed himself. It would be nice to see April playing some music for him or to see his 2 helper ladies show up. I expect what we will have instead is just Iris and Jim and a series of almost offensive jokes at the expense of his physical condition.
posted by howard at 9:45 PM
6 Comments:
I think Lynn has made it abundantly clear that she prefers little-girl April, not only with all the little-girl-Apes drawings on the website, but also her bizarre comments that readers no doubt "mourn" the loss of toddler April, with "pageboy" haircut, coveralls on, and Farley by her side. No--the only one who "mourns" that version of Apes is Lynn.
I really, really, really don't want a Gramps/Iris week. And please not more than one week. And I agree--it'd be nice to actually see April show up and play her guitar, as described in the letters. In the strip, Lynnions!
With Grandpa Jim recovering from his stroke and looking pitiful, Lynn finally has something she can write about him to which she can relate with her own illness. Before, the grandpa Jim themes were:
a. Iris is a nag who won't let me eat anything
b. Jim is a lecherous old man
But now, Lynn has rehab to work through. Not only that but she can work through whatever issues she has remaining with her strip equivalent of her own father, whom she resents because he never stood up to her mother. I would not only expect a good week of it, but I would expect to see a week of Grandpa Jim at least every other month through September.
Eek. At first reading, by "good week," I thought you meant "enjoyable week." And my reaction was that while there were interesting things she could do with this storyline, I have no confidence that she will do so.
Then I realized you meant "a good week" as in "at least a week."
By the way, do you want the curtains open or closed? j/k
And happy birthday! :)
Thanks for the happy birthday greetings. I like the curtains open, because the views in Arizona are spectactular.
Our current view is snow and ice. Wind chill was -4 today! Brrrr.
Low 70s Fahrenheit here. It's a good time of the year to visit Arizona.
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