I Can’t Believe (Well, really I can)
1. I can’t believe that a public school teacher has enough time in her lunch hour to go ring-shopping, and that she would choose such a time to do it, when she is going to be rushed to get back to school and will have to make a snap decision. However, I will grant that this could be something I just don’t know about teachers in Ontario. Maybe they have huge lunch hours, or maybe the school where Liz teaches is conveniently close to a jewelry store. When I went through this with my wife, she picked the ring after doing much research about all the different kinds there were and I gave her as much time as she wanted.
2. I can’t believe Anthony is the one to pick out the ring, although this would definitely make Elizabeth the anti-Thérèse. I also notice that once again he asks permission. “Can I show you what I like?” Say, Anthony. Have you already scoped out this store and the jewelry prices, because it sure seems like you have?
3. I can’t believe a selling point is the fact that the rings don’t need to be sized. Good thing Liz and Anthony have average finger sizes, or they would never get a ring.
4. I can’t believe Lynn has portrayed the salesman as a nonplayer throughout this process. I think it has been a long time since Lynn has been in a jewelry store. Jewelry salespersons are not usually mutes.
5. I can’t believe the final panel joke compares the quality of jewelry production to an upcoming marriage. I hate to break it to you Anthony, but pick up trucks are made to last. Jewelry is usually fragile and requires some maintenance. That is actually a better metaphor for the realities of marriage, but I suppose not this contract marriage we are seeing
2. I can’t believe Anthony is the one to pick out the ring, although this would definitely make Elizabeth the anti-Thérèse. I also notice that once again he asks permission. “Can I show you what I like?” Say, Anthony. Have you already scoped out this store and the jewelry prices, because it sure seems like you have?
3. I can’t believe a selling point is the fact that the rings don’t need to be sized. Good thing Liz and Anthony have average finger sizes, or they would never get a ring.
4. I can’t believe Lynn has portrayed the salesman as a nonplayer throughout this process. I think it has been a long time since Lynn has been in a jewelry store. Jewelry salespersons are not usually mutes.
5. I can’t believe the final panel joke compares the quality of jewelry production to an upcoming marriage. I hate to break it to you Anthony, but pick up trucks are made to last. Jewelry is usually fragile and requires some maintenance. That is actually a better metaphor for the realities of marriage, but I suppose not this contract marriage we are seeing
posted by howard at 9:50 PM
19 Comments:
When Anthony directed Liz to a ring he liked, I laughed out loud. This reminded me of how some of my friends' grooms would go scope out the jewelry store ahead of time, pick out something they could afford, and then try to make it look like they were trying to pick something out for aesthetic reasons, rather than price.
My guess is that Lynn intends us to think this is Anthony directing Liz to something he can afford. Practicality dominates every aspect of this proposal. And I would not put it past Liz to be totally insensitive to price.
For people who claim they are taking this slow, why did they immediately run out and buy a ring during a lunch hour? Wouldn't people who are taking it slow just wait for a convenient weekend? Guess Liz couldn't wait to get her little golden handcuff.
I should clarify that I don't find it laughable to try to limit spending on frivolous things like diamond rings--far from it. But the ruse is silly because it's usually obvious to the bride, and the guy usually picks something that is not the bride's taste.
I find myself wondering what kind of strange, ugly rings Anthony picked if they have a "matching design." Brings to mind the goofy dolphin rings from the movie Sideways. I've never met a guy who wanted to wear anything other than a comfort-fit plain band, but I can totally see Anthony going for dolphins.
qnjones:
But the ruse is silly because it's usually obvious to the bride, and the guy usually picks something that is not the bride's taste.
It's not obvious to Liz 'cause she's as smart as a sack of hammers. Her whole pathetic life is filled with incidents when she was blindsided by the obvious. Wait till she has proof not even she or the other Foobs can explain away that Awfulny lied his ass off about his first marriage. Trying to figure out why he did that will take forever. As for the issue of taste, the nitwit will put any damned thing on her finger as "proof" that she isn't a failure as a woman.
howtheduck:
I can’t believe that a public school teacher has enough time in her lunch hour to go ring-shopping, and that she would choose such a time to do it, when she is going to be rushed to get back to school and will have to make a snap decision.
Not only that, but since when does a grade-four teacher have a "spare." Middle school or high school, where the students have different teachers for different subjects? Sure, it would make sense for those teachers to have "spare" periods. But in grade four, aren't they with Liz all day? Or maybe she has a "spare" when they have phys ed or art.
I can’t believe the final panel joke compares the quality of jewelry production to an upcoming marriage. I hate to break it to you Anthony, but pick up trucks are made to last.
Durable jewelry: the key to a long-lasting relationship. ::rolleyes::
qnjones, Anthony definitely gives the impression of having scoped the place out in advance.
I am new to your blog but am glad to have discovered it. I have enjoyed the strip for 20 years, but have been quite disturbed by many of the plot developments over the past year or so, particularly the lackluster, passionless Liz-Anthony pairing. Along with Elizabeth's move back home and Michael's purchase of his parents' house, it seems like the adult Patterson kids are moving unhealthily backwards and inwards. It has me wondering what is going on behind the scenes and what the author's motivations are.
I wonder whether the Liz-Anthony relationship was set up years ago, perhaps as a way to close the strip. It was certainly foreshadowed for a long time. It might have been intended as an art-imitates-life story with a young single parent marrying again, happier and wiser the second time, like the author did herself. But perhaps this happy ending imploded with the real-life divorce, and the Liz-Anthony relationship is now drained of all passion and romantic love. Unbeknownst to them, and perhaps to Lynn herself, Liz and Anthony are embarking on a doomed marriage.
Just some thoughts from a sad reader.
"Can I show you what I like? This one. It has a nice wedding band and a man's ring to match...I know this because I have the man's ring at home, in a box under my pillow. The same pillow I cried into every night when Therese first left me. No, Liz, your head won't ever nestle on that pillow...you're Francie's friend, remember? I thought I could put you on the other bump bed in her room." --Anon in Rochester
P.S. I teach 7th grade, and my lunch is 25 minutes long, and my "free" period (spare?) is not for personal business...it's for planning, grading, meeting with other teachers, etc.
howtheduck, it seems tomorrow's strip is this old Michael-Easter strip. I think you'll agree that this lends itself to a Michael dispatch--as long as you are so inclined. :)
Anon, I suspect you are exactly right. A recurring theme in many of Lynn's interviews was that husband #1 was the bad boy who was exciting but treated her poorly. Her second marriage she presented as having gotten things right--finding herself a nice guy who was sincere and reliable and who helped her heal old wounds.
As you suggest, Lynn has laid down plenty of foreshadowing suggesting that after having dated men that are "exciting" but ultimately unreliable, that Liz would find herself drawn back to her "nice guy" first love, and that this would be Liz getting things "right," as well.
When Thérèse left Anthony, she told Anthony that the house and baby were "his"--this was almost verbatim what Doug Franks told Lynn when he left her (according to what she has reported in interviews). She definitely seemed to be laying track for Liz and Anthony to have a gender-reversed Rod-Lynn courtship and marriage.
And as howtheduck has mentioned recently, the "checklist" Liz and Anthony used on their date back in August of 2007 was also something that Rod and Lynn had done when they were dating.
Lynn, of course, laid all the groundwork for the Lizthony reunion before Rod left her last year. It would make perfect sense that having gone through that experience would have an effect on how this story arc is executed.
dreadedcandiru2:
I totally agree with you that Liz doesn't get it. But Anthony still looks like a foob trying to pull off the charade.
And yeah, there's no way she would have time to ring-shop at lunch.
Anon in Rochester, you must be one of those whacky "career gals," treating teaching as an actual profession to be taken seriously. You're, like, the opposite of Liz. ;)
qnjones,
This reminded me of how some of my friends' grooms would go scope out the jewelry store ahead of time, pick out something they could afford, and then try to make it look like they were trying to pick something out for aesthetic reasons, rather than price.
This is exactly my thought too. I think Lynn meant for it to be the opposite of Anthony in this strip where Thérèse’s ring requires payments.
For people who claim they are taking this slow, why did they immediately run out and buy a ring during a lunch hour? Wouldn't people who are taking it slow just wait for a convenient weekend?
I have been making jokes on April’s Real Blog as Michael Patterson complimenting Anthony Caine’s technique of saying he is taking it slow at every single point of progress in their relationship and by asking permission of Liz at every single point, comparing it to a technique someone might use to approach a skittish animal for fear it may run away. The more Lynn has Anthony do this, the more I am beginning to think that my Michael actually has the right answer and not the joke answer. All of Liz’s other boyfriends have been, “Wow! Look at you! I am in love. Let’s go out! Let me take you to meet my parents. Move in with me!” The post-Mtigwaki Anthony is doing everything exactly the opposite of that, even though we know from his old thought bubbles, he is lusting after Liz just like all the rest of them.
I've never met a guy who wanted to wear anything other than a comfort-fit plain band, but I can totally see Anthony going for dolphins.
I was thinking of stainless steel washers myself.
DreadedCandiru2
As for the issue of taste, the nitwit will put any damned thing on her finger as "proof" that she isn't a failure as a woman.
I am afraid that this is a lesson made glaringly clear in today’s strip.
aprilp_katje
Not only that, but since when does a grade-four teacher have a "spare."
In my children’s school system, it is referred to as “early-out” day. On Wednesdays, my kids have to be picked up at 1:30 instead of 3:30. However, when I was growing up, there was no such thing, and the situation you described is correct.
howtheduck, it seems tomorrow's strip is this old Michael-Easter strip. I think you'll agree that this lends itself to a Michael dispatch--as long as you are so inclined. :)
I’ll write one up and it helps quite a bit to actually have the strip in advance, since my local Arizona papers don’t have early Sunday editions. Thanks.
Anonymous
I am new to your blog but am glad to have discovered it.
Welcome to the Howard Bunt Blog
Along with Elizabeth's move back home and Michael's purchase of his parents' house, it seems like the adult Patterson kids are moving unhealthily backwards and inwards.
The motivation with Michael moving back into the Patterson house, as near as I can tell, is twofold. (1) It lets Lynn do a “circle of life” progression and (2) it sets up the strip for a follow-on storyline involving the family life of Michael raising small children, in the event that Lynn could ever let someone else take over the strip. She has gone back-and-forth on this issue, but has made it pretty clear that if someone were to take over her strip, that is where the focus would be.
I wonder whether the Liz-Anthony relationship was set up years ago, perhaps as a way to close the strip.
As aprilp_katje points out, there are many elements of their romance which match Lynn Johnston’s romance with Rod Johnston, which we know because she has said that specifically in some of her interviews. The fact that Liz and Anthony appear to be passionless and unromantic is because, judging from what Lynn has said about her courtship with Rod, it was also passionless and unromantic. The famous Rod Johnston quote was something along the lines of “You take on Lynn Lake (where Rod wanted to live and Lynn hated) and I’ll take on Aaron (Lynn’s son, who had considerable behaviour problems)”. That’s not exactly a line out of a romance book.
Anon in Rochester
I know this because I have the man's ring at home, in a box under my pillow. The same pillow I cried into every night when Therese first left me.
If only Anthony shed a tear from Thérèse leaving. I have a different image of Anthony after signing the official divorce paperwork, running around the house with little Francie singing “Ding! Dong! The witch is dead!” and telling her how he can finally get to work on getting her the mother she should have had in the first place.
I teach 7th grade, and my lunch is 25 minutes long, and my "free" period (spare?) is not for personal business...it's for planning, grading, meeting with other teachers, etc.
Exactly. I suppose what this means is that Anthony picked up Liz and got her to the jewelry store in 10 minutes, spent 5 minutes shopping and picked out the rings he had already selected, and then drove her back in 10 minutes.
qnjones:
And yeah, there's no way she would have time to ring-shop at lunch.
Not if she's a competent teacher, no. I have the feeling that when she resigns, the principal will shrug, say that Captain Video quit and hire someone who knows what s/he's doing.
howtheduck:
The Sunday strip IS the one aprilp_katje is talking about. Time hasn't made it any funnier, has it?
qnjones,
Not if she's a competent teacher, no. I have the feeling that when she resigns, the principal will shrug, say that Captain Video quit and hire someone who knows what s/he's doing.
Hardly. After teaching for 2 years, the school will hail her as the greatest teacher in Milboroughan history and have a statue made in her honour. Every time Lynn Johnston does a teacher-related strip, she invariably irritates the real teachers who read the strip.
DreadedCandiru2
The Sunday strip IS the one aprilp_katje is talking about. Time hasn't made it any funnier, has it?
It’s not a funny ha-ha kind of strip, nevertheless it is the kind of strip that used to be Lynn Johnston’s forté. As a regular, church-going type of person myself; if I were to see a little kid pointing out the hypocrisy of his parents for only going to church 2 times a year, I would enjoy that moment. Sometimes I resent the fact that Easter is a day where I have to contend with a whole lot of extra people I otherwise would never see (not a particularly Christian sentiment, I know), and having a strip like this would be a little payback. It has a strong appeal to a certain audience and the best part is that the Pattersons are not played as the holier-than-thou characters.
Post a Comment
<< Home