Saturday, October 11, 2008

Global Apes

Bizarro is brought to you today by Insatiable Mutant Apes. "What can we f*ck up next?"

This is an odd cartoon that came seemingly from nowhere. In writing this blog, I began to analyze it, and myself, and have come to some conclusions about why I thought of it and why it appeals to me so much.

On the surface, I particularly like the disdainful you're-such-an-idiot look of the woman's face and body language. Okay, I admit it, I've seen that look before, and here begins my self analysis.

Some women have a way of looking at something a man does in a superior sort of "you are so immature" way that those of us with a noticeably immature side are all too familiar with. In response, we men often react with indifference or, some might say, childish impudence.

So if you're a an amateur shrink like me (or even a professional one), you'd say this cartoon is about the boyish nature of some men, and the objections some women have with it. I have occasionally had relationships with women like this, but have since learned to choose women with an equally strong inner child, so as not to be called out on it.

A side joke in this cartoon is the newspaper headline, "Global Village To Lose Idiot." This was submitted by a friend of mine from Saskatoon (which is up north somewhere), Brian Graham, whom I met during an extended stay in Costa Rica a couple years back. He and his lovely wife were in the cabin next to ours, a couple hundred feet through the jungle, and we happened to meet on the trail one day.We got to talking, he asked me what I did, I said cartoonist, he said I like cartoons what kind do you do, I said Bizarro, he said oh my holy god that's my favorite cartoon in the whole world even while I'm on vacation here I pull it up on the Internet each day because I can't live without it will you have sex with me?

So began our friendship, still sex-free after two and a half years, I'm happy to say.

But we correspond regularly and Brian throws ideas at me now and again. This headline was terrific, I thought, and it seems even more fitting to have it on a paper held by a chimp.

17 comments:

doug nicodemus said...

i think the best part of it is the village idiot part. given whats happened in the last week the question is can he leave soon enough.

have we hit the bottom yet? it's so dark in here i can't tell.

Lorie said...

I loved that headline, too! Not to bash my own gender, but I do have friends who have wives that drive me nuts. All they do is b*tch at them when they try to have a good time. Why do men put up with that? As long as you are responsible, you can be as fun as you want in my book.

Jadon said...

Wow! I actually know Brian! He would definitely say what you said in the exact way you said it. :) Now that he knows Bizarro, I'll have to have sex with him...err, wait, no...scratch that. Still sex-free after a few years is good. :)

HollyBerry said...

it's "the LOOK!" i first learned of "the look" back when family programming was actually popular on television, and we watched Home Improvement. a LOT. "the LOOK" always came from Jill's mother when Tim did something stupid (which, luckily for us, was quite often). I was only (maybe) 9 or 10 when I learned about it, and couldn't really wrap my little head around it. i thought "why would someone do that?" but having gone through public school and dating the dirty dudes that i did, I completely understand its concept. I've used it before, but just talking about the problem is much more productive and less manipulative, so I don't really use it as a tool, more-so as a way to express the silliness of the situation.

Penny Mitchell said...

Does the fact that I occasionally dust my husband in belching contests mean I have a strong inner child?

And PLEASE tell me we'll see the Village Idiot behind bars one of these days!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

It wasn't quite as Dan described. I met this guy on the trail who told me he was a top cartoonist. I said oh my god Jim Davis. Dan said do you think if I were as famous and talented as the great Jim Davis that I would stay at a rustic cabin in the jungle with unreliable wi-fi? Here, read this book I wrote about myself.
I was surprised Dan was able to post a picture of our house. I didn't think Google Street View worked this close to the North Pole.
I have given Dan several excellent ideas but he is extremely picky and very view are crazy enough for Bizarro. When I read this posting, I gained a new appreciation for the amazing depth of his weirdness.

Rebecca C. Brown said...

Oh no! I hope your cartoon only ironically supports bunk Lamarckian use-and-disuse evolutionary theory! Please tell me you understand how evolution actually works.*

* At the hand of an omnipotent creator. Duh.

Rebecca C. Brown said...

And about The Look: I think you're unfairly pinning the blame on women for having needed to devise The Look. Perhaps if our culture didn't encourage men to act like children, women would have the social leisure to lighten up a little.

That said, none of my straight women friends or I have a The Look in our arsenal of facial expressions. But we all have male partners who pull their own weight. Which isn't to say that you didn't pull your own weight, hence you "deserved" The Look; it sounds, in your case, like you weren't with the right person.

Anonymous said...

Shocking. Throw another name onto the "writes Dan's jokes for him" list.

marine_explorer said...

Some women have a way of looking at something a man does in a superior sort of "you are so immature" way...

LOL! I know some women who are fixated on a guy's behavior--as if that somehow reflects on who they are. Most guys no longer need their mommies to keep them in line--but will do this just to reinforce their autonomy from overbearing females. Something to consider if your guy is "acting up".

Perhaps if our culture didn't encourage men to act like children

Two-way street. Ever watch "Sex in the City?"? Are those women grown adults? I don't think so...yet I know women who think that show is somehow "real".

Lorie said...

Most guys hate Sex in the City. The husband of a friend of mine calls it Sluts in the City. It makes some men uncomfortable to see women having sex on their own terms. Not to say those women did not occasionally suffer for it. I'll tell you what - there are two words in the English language that if women had the equivalent would indeed be the great equalizer. Organized Sports. Give me something that requires I only sit on the couch and drink beer all day. My standard response to any request? "Sorry, honey, the game's on." This is becoming a year round occurence. In no part of the year is there not a sporting event being broadcast. "Sorry, Extreme Farting is on. I'm in the office pool. Gotta watch it."

Anonymous said...
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marine_explorer said...

Lorie-
As a guy who never watches "organized sports", I'd rather be out ocean kayaking than sitting on my ass in front of the TV. Or working at the animal hospital--my other hobby.

"It makes some men uncomfortable to see women having sex on their own terms."

Fine by me--as long as guys get the same leeway. I thought the "sex" part was the most amusing. I was less amused by their vapid, consumerist lives--probably because my EX subscribed to that yawner lifestyle. Whatever, lol. Women like that can stay away from me.

Lorie said...

Marin Explorer - It was a TV show! I don't know any women who really live like that and even if I did it would be their business what they spend THEIR OWN money on. There are plenty of guys who spend their money on useless crap. I don't know too many women who own a Hummer or a collection of desert toys. I applaud how you chose to spend your leisure time, but it doesn't sound like you have much use for women, anyway.

Anonymous said...

Or at least for women living in an apartment full of cats, right Lorie?

Anonymous said...

Oh, and for those of you who may have forgotten - Lorie is the same blogger that self-importantly proclaimed a few weeks ago that she would no longer comment on this blog until I stopped posting.

marine_explorer said...

..it doesn't sound like you have much use for women

I did not know that, but like you suggest, men/women who simply "bitch" at each other are pretty useless in my book. I won't add to it, but there's some truth to this cartoon.

But I'm being unfunny again--glad Bizarro is here to make humorous social commentary.