The funniest thing about this strip is not the fact that the old man accidentally fed the plants and watered the cat, but rather the fact that the cat is sauntering across the living room floor, soaking wet. This should ring true for anyone who lives with a feline, especially an older one. Give a cat a bath and they won’t shake their fur out or go into a violent fit. Instead, they’ll sulk in the corner, lick themselves dry and slowly plot their revenge.
I’ve managed to paint rooms some unfortunate colors in my day, including a pastel-type yellow that I was certain would look muted on the wall and a dusty orange that edged a little too close to pink once it dried. But my all-time worst color choice was a bright, headache inducing green that I used to paint the walls and ceiling of a windowless office. The room also had fluorescent lights, which made for a deeply unsettling experience.
I can see how the oblong object in this strip could be mistaken for any number of things, especially after dark. It’s shape suggests an enormous loaf of French bread or a pod from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It could also double as a novelty prop from Up in Smoke. Any of these items would have been a more palatable cover-up than “dead body,” although none of them would have been as funny. Well…maybe the French bread.
Just when I was getting tired of omnipresent bad news about the economy (like every single state reporting a rise in unemployment last month), Dilbert had the good sense to emphasize the absurdity of the situation. Of course, the prospect of these two characters becoming squatters would invite some seriously unfunny, and perhaps even Kafkaesque, elements into the strip. Then again, Dilbert seems well equipped to go down this sobering path what with its bitter sarcasm and finely tuned sense of outrage.
I’ve never tripped over a speed bump while walking, but I have become wary of three types of speed bumps while driving. The first type of speed bump is not painted and is therefore indistinguishable from the road until it’s too late. The second type of speed bump has seen its reflective paint fade to almost nothing and is no better than the first. But the third, most dangerous type of speed bump is thin and painted bright yellow. Nevertheless, it’s made of such dense material that rolling over it at 10 miles an hour will throw off your alignment. And then there are the potholes…
When I was a boy, my parents almost moved from our home in Logan Square to an apartment in Wicker Park. If I had grown up in that apartment, then I would have witnessed the type of transformation shown in this strip whereby a cheap, unpretentious neighborhood develops a reputation as an artist’s hangout and quickly becomes overrun with trendy restaurants and expensive lofts. Wicker Park surrendered to that fate years ago but the funny thing is that my old neighborhood of Logan Square is quickly developing a hip reputation as well. There are still places that sell $1.99 tacos, but there are also a growing number of places that sell $7 beer. Ah, progress.
This strip would be a lot more credible if the wistful, wisecracking grandmother weren’t so rail-thin. How can a woman be jealous of a snowman who easily sheds girth in the hips when she has no discernible hips to begin with? I’ve already commented on the weight-conscious grandmother in Grand Avenue, but this strip takes her neuroses to a new low. It would be one thing if she were even slightly chubby, but the way this woman is drawn, she has no curves whatsoever. My advice to her would be to stop staring at snowmen and to start taking protein supplements.
