Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Fish Face

Bizarro is brought to you today by Solid Rhythm.

One of my favorite books as a student was To Kill a Mockingbird. The movie adaptation with Gregory Peck is great, too. A few weeks ago, a reader suggested the phrase "to mock a killingbird," without any firm idea of how to use it. I liked it and quickly came up with this caption and image for it.

Another reader wrote saying that he liked the cartoon but that eagles catch their prey facing the same direction as they're flying. That makes sense, I suppose, so I thanked him for his knowledge morsel.

I was inclined to draw the fish facing the same way as the bird, but reversed it in this case so that the caption would be on the right, which I liked better compositionally. But now that I look at it, it occurs to me that the fish isn't face backward or forward, his body is perpendicular to the eagle's. So they may be traveling the same direction as the fish when they nab them, but once in the air and they return their feet to their natural position, the fish faces sideways and it doesn't matter which way its head is facing.

These the are the kinds of things I spend too much time thinking about.

Some interesting stuff about the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee:
She was a tomboy and a childhood friend of Truman Capote, who was the opposite of a tomboy. (a tinagirl?)
She worked as a reservations agent for an airline until she was in her thirties.
After having published only a handful of articles, she quit her job and wrote her first novel.
It won the Pulitzer Prize and was made into an Academy Award winning film.
She traveled with Capote to Kansas when he was writing In Cold Blood, another great book.
Aside from a couple of short essays, she never published again.
Capote did very little publishing after In Cold Blood, and nothing of any real note.
Both Harper and Capote had prehensile tails.

For more information on Harper Lee and Truman Capote, speak with your village elders.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's absolutely great, I laughed so hard!

girl least likely to said...

i seem to remember something about how to tell if you're seeing an eagle or an osprey depending on which way they're carrying the fish (perpendicular to the body or "torpedo-style"), but i can't remember which is which right now. some good that hint did me!

Jym said...

=v= Any thoughts on the proper orientation of chicken feet? (You remember the woman at the bookstore in San Francisco? She just gave me a lovely autographed pirate book with a chicken drawing in it. Many thanks!)

Anonymous said...

Really? Another weak play on words with dialogue thrown in as filler? Is anyone laughing at this?

FIDO said...
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Anonymous said...
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Unknown said...

Truman Capote and Harper Lee are two of my favorite authors. It is sad but I guess completely logical that neither of them wrote much after that trip to Kansas; I probably couldn't have poured my own coffee after research like that, let alone write and publish. Thank god for their prehensile tails, though!

Christina Awesome said...

Under your signature it says 'w/ Sweeney'. that wouldn't be the reader would it?


And how come you don't always put in your hidden objects? any reason?

SAYOTTE316 said...

Any truth to the rumor piraro benches 385lbs


im guessing him being a full blown vegan maybe 45- 55 lbs tops

Penny Mitchell said...

I love the comic, and I love the additional information even more.
Bravo!

Piraro said...

SAYOTTE316-

Since you've thrown down the gauntlet, read this post from earlier in the year.

http://bizarrocomic.blogspot.com/2008/06/bad-ass-like-me.html

It is also worth noting that there are a number of NFL players who are vegan for health and strength reasons, including pro-bowl tight end Tony Gonzales. Also, Gorillas, our closest genetic relatives, are completely vegan and report very little trouble with strength-related activities.

Personally, I'm still in great shape at fifty and no one guesses me to be more than 35.

Take that! (kick sand here)

SAYOTTE316 said...

Piraro,


Believe it or not, I didn't say you don't look good for you age. Who wouldn't want a low bodyfat at age 50. Given the obesity rate of males over 50 you should be proud.

However i have a hard time believing you are healthy and not tired all the time. As far as the football players who claim well being vegan. They are full of shit .

Piraro said...

sayotte,

Believe what you will, but I've never felt better or more energetic. I've always been athletic and in better shape than most people my age. On my fiftieth birthday I'd been vegan for more than six years and I did 50 push ups. The real kind, not the girl-kind on my knees.

Gorillas, elephants, bulls, buffaloes are all vegan. None are weak or tired. You can't believe everything the cattle farmers tell you.

SAYOTTE316 said...

Fido's pepere got down on his knees to do a push up..

all i had on my mind in that position was his BUTT..

Dan,

ricky williams Who plays for the dolphins claims hes a vegan. Nope hes in muscle and fitness saying his diet consists of tuna and eggs..

Tony gonzalez claims hes a vegan... but heres funny story months back he saved a victim choking in a steakhouse on steak.. You guessed it tony was also there downing a steak.

i will ask you this what other protein sources do vegans have other than a block of wood.

MERRY XMAS

Shoshanah Marohn said...

Wow! I'm a huge fan of both Capote and Lee, and I never knew that about their prehensile tails! I'm so glad you have enlightened me. Thanks a bundle!

Piraro said...

SOYotte,
A human's need for protein is vastly overrated by today's pop culture. There is protein in many plants, beans have the most, and it is far easier for humans to digest without any of the negative side effects of the fat in animals.

I'll say it again, protein does NOT equal strength. Where do gorillas, elephants, rhinos, cattle, etc. get their strength? Animal protein (for humans) DOES, however, equal heart disease, stroke, cancer, etc.
Saying you can't be strong without eating meat is a bit like saying you can't be strong without taking steroids. It may speed up the process, but there is a big downside and it isn't necessary.

Here's a two-time Ironman Triathlon champion who has been vegan for years. He's a personal friend, so I know he isn't cheating.
http://www.brendanbrazier.com/bio/index.html

HollyBerry said...

i think this is my favorite one thus far. it hit the funny beat perfectly. this was a throw-your-head-back chuckle. good one, piraro.

Eric Haas said...

If you search for photos of eagles carrying fish on Flickr, you’ll find the fish in every possible orientation, although head first seems to be the most common.

Anonymous said...

I actually saw this on TV so it must be true: fish are nabbed by birds facing every which way, but in order to fly straight, or at all, the bird has to spend some time reorienting the prey so that it can be carried torpedo style.