Bizarro is brought to you today by Nothing.I got a couple of comments from readers who didn't quite get this headache gag. While I fully understand how a person might not understand it, I'm not sure how to explain it. I think it is one of those oddball gags that you either find amusing or you don't. There is no secret to it that you're not seeing, it's just that this guy has a headache and his wife and dog are part of the equation. If you're still out to sea, get married, sit around with your spouse for 10 or 20 years then look at the cartoon again.*
I'd like to say this about the "Backwards Caps" cartoon: I hate backwards caps. Yes, perhaps "hate" is a strong word for how one could feel about a particular fashion, you're right. Okay, I think it is dumb. A baseball cap is designed with a bill to protect your eyes from the sun, not the back of your neck. It's the entire point of its existence. It is like wearing shoes on your hands. However, if you were the only person to wear it backwards, then you're probably just quirky and individual and I admire that. But if you started doing it just because everyone else is, you're just being a sheep. If, on the other hand, you feel confident that you like the way it looks independently and you'd wear it that way even if you had never seen anyone else in the world do it and tourists were asking to take a picture with you because you looked so silly, then it would be wrong for you NOT to wear it backwards just because it was a fad. And if you find that you're just more comfortable looking the same as everyone else, own it, girl, and don't change a thing. There is also no reason in the world why you should care about what I think of your hat stylings.In the interest of full disclosure, I was wearing what I call "old man hats" a few years before they caught on with youngsters and now they have become a symbol of shallow hipsterism. But I refuse to give it up because I liked them before they became a fad and I still like them. Again, no reason at all you should care.
I hope this has been sufficiently confusing so that you now don't know what the hell to do with your baseball cap. Life is like that and we've all learned a valuable lesson.
And here, to round out our confusion, is a cartoon from 1997 that even I don't understand. I have no idea why it occurred to me or why I thought it was funny but it did and I did and I still do. Figure this one out for yourself, you're on your own.*I'd like to mention that this cartoon in no way reflects my own marriage to CHNW. We have a ball virtually every day and she gets more adorable and interesting year by year.**
** Yes, she is a regular reader of this blog.
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10 comments:
I just feel delighted with ownself for having recognized R Crumb in your cartoon prior to having read its caption. That must make you a damn good portraitist, mon cher.
I think the funny in the headache joke is how it brings together a minor medical concern with terms used for serious medical situations. Plus it helps to know that a "carrier" refers to someone who has a disease and can infect other people while not suffer from the disease itself. Dog gives headaches even though it suffers from none itself. And a "donor" being someone who gives away a body part to another individual. Wife has a headache and gives it to the husband thus leaving him with a headache and her none.
It's just so darn funny it seemed worth explaining. Sadly, my explanation has probably killed the humour but whaddya gonna do?
Side note on the caps, there IS a cap designed to be worn backwards, it's called a "welders cap". It is a soft, cloth cap with a bill, that is made to be worn backwards under a welding helmet to keep the sparks from going down the back of the neck. I wore them for years when I was doing welding and grinding on a regular basis. I even wore them when I wasn't working because I really dug the spiffy colors. People ALWAYS asked me where I got them.
Your "Average Hollywood Moment" strip has a very Zippy-ish feeling to it, it's a different kind of clever than usual for you. Always fun seeing what you pull out of the archives. :)
dThe fashion statement my hat makes is: I don't want to have skin cancer, so I listened to my dermatologist.
Geez Dan...a little warning please when you post photos like the one for "sufficiently confused". I prefer my juice going down my throat, not out my nose!!
I agree about the backwards cap thing, with one exception: I like to run and hike while wearing a baseball cap. If I'm going up a steep hill, I'll turn my cap around so that I can actually see the road or trail in front of me.
Oh, and speaking of CHNW, is she fully recovered from the taxi incident?
I will point out that I, too, am a fan of the 'old man hat', and enjoy them as they keep the sun off of my 'old man bald spot'.
And it looks perfect in the back window of my 'old man car'.
I've also known plenty of carriers.
The backward cap comic is great. I often get a chuckle out of myself with my comment to my son's friends who I observe with the odd fashion. " who do ya think you are, Yogi Berra?". Few get the point.
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