073 - Strained Acronyms
Monday, July 30th, 2007NOTE: New voting incentive for Wednesday! Start off August with a new model sheet!
I love those little proprietary languages large companies have.
I entered the world of adults this week; I bought myself a Day Timer. Now, I have a PDA (that I mostly used for Bejeweled and videos), but it's not as good for scheduling and note-taking as I'd like it to bed. At my old place of employment, a little spiral reporter's notebook was enough. But now, the projects are more complex, and keeping track of things is tougher. So I broke down and got a Day Timer.
My sister did the same thing a week before. We shared pained glances at each other, each one knowing that we'd lost just a little of that mindset that a kid has, the one that makes it okay to blow off a deadline to have fun. It's not a tremendous loss, truth be told. That sort of mindset isn't tenable in the professional world. It's the sort of evolution that happens in real life, but is so rarely done well in comics.
Indeed, the best comics endure because they deny that evolution. The situations surrounding a character may change, but that character's the same as he always was. The simple fact is, Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, Ozy And Millie, and a whole host of other comics would have to end on the day their characters shared that sad look my sister and I shared.
Other comics try to show evolution, but I think that, by and large, they end at a similar point. The characters may age, but they very rarely evolve dramatically. That childlike quality, specifically, is what must stay alive to keep the strip fun.
Entre Nous, though it's about characters with jobs, is firmly in this pre-adult mindset. Dreams keep them going, and it's always better to go see a movie than work another hour of overtime. Leona may be the only true adult of the group, but her childhood ended a little earlier than the others (see Leona's Story).
I think it's obvious that EN will continue to subvert this adult-life paradigm; all the good comics, whether they age their characters or not, survive because of this. And we want to be there someday. That dream is maybe the sum of my pre-adult flame. I'm pretty sure it'll never go out completely.
~Matt
~*~
I finished book 7 yesterday, managing to read 600+ pages in 24 hours. (I had only managed to read 150 pages during the week.) The funny thing is, I'm not a HUGE Harry Potter fan. I enjoy the books, but I plowed through book 7 like I did more out of fear that someone would spoil it for me if I didn't. It's a shame, because I may have enjoyed it more if I was able to read it at a more leisurely pace.
~Rich
August 7th, 2007 at 11:51 am
that’s the wonderful thing about owning books. you and always go back and re read them at your own flavored pace later if you wish. if only web comics were that east but like books when ever you reread them you seen something to or re-envision something that you’d previously forgotten. like how though Dallas normally has a smile on his face he always seems to close his eyes when he’s really smiling.
August 28th, 2007 at 12:36 am
I never got past the second Potter, but i read “Golden Compass” and the next two as quickly as i could get my hands on them, despite the daekness and negativity inherent in some aspects of the story.
August 28th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Ummm - didn’t include this in my previous, sorry:
“Other comics try to show evolution, but I think that, by and large, they end at a similar point. The characters may age, but they very rarely evolve dramatically. That childlike quality, specifically, is what must stay alive to keep the strip fun.”
As counter-examples, i evince “For Better or for Worse” and “9 Chickweed Lane”.
August 28th, 2007 at 7:50 am
I would counter that neither comic is much fun to read anymore.