How to Understand Generalizations
I grew up in a small town. I remember being told many times that the city was full of crime and violence. I also remember our house being burgled, and that the guy who ran the tiny little store at a crossroads out amongst the farms nearly died when a robber hit him repeatedly in the face with a large can of V-8.
From that day forward, I was just as fearful of crime in the country as I was in the city. Also, I never developed a taste for V-8.
As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).
How to Vent Your Frustratio
Another Mission Impossible movie came out between the one mentioned in this comic and now. Mission: Impossible Fallout. In it, Tom Cruise and his team had to operate as fugitives, and he dangled from the underside of an elevator.
As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).
How to Make Peace
Way back in the mists of time, I participated in more than one roast. I was always surprised how few of the comedians ever bothered to actually write new material specifically about the person being roasted. Most of them seemed to just go up and do their usual act with some half-hearted segue to make it seem like the bit you’d seen them do a million times was somehow about the person being honored.
I thought about that while I was watching a documentary about the comedian Bob Einstein (A.K.A. Super Dave Osborne). He is the brother of Albert Brooks. Their father was a well-known comedian way back in the day. Bob Einstein swore he would never go into comedy after attending his father’s funeral, because Milton Berle got up, and instead of actually saying anything about the deceased, just did his act.
I wish I found that hard to believe.
As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).
How to React to a Friend's Good News
When we were comedians, the real Ric used to be described, in his introduction, as “a psychotic ball of stress.” Now he works in a job where he is appreciated for his level head and steady hand on the tiller.
Not well appreciated, but at least somewhat appreciated.
His company gives the employees little mementos and awards to commemorate various milestones working for the company. I think it was the ten-year mark when Ric came into his office to find a small cardboard box on his chair. He opened it to find a nice metal keychain of the company logo in a presentation box, and a folded piece of paper. It turned out to be instructions for his supervisor for how to present the gift to Ric, including the specific directive: “Tell the employee how important they are, to you and to the team.”
And in a way, they did exactly that.
As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).
How to Prepare for the Future
The Star Trek episode referenced here is, of course, “Spock’s Brain”, where aliens steal . . . wait for it . . . Spock’s brain. They use it as the processor for the computer that controls their entire society. I love that episode. It’s terrible. There’s so much to mock in it, including the single line of Star Trek dialog that Missy and I quote most often.
“Brain and brain! What is brain?!”
My favorite thing is that until they can find Spock’s brain, McCoy rigs up a doohickey so he can drive Spock’s brainless body around like a remote-controlled car. You know Bones had some fun with that before he showed anyone else, making Spock do the Hokey Pokey and that sort of thing. Or maybe he just forced Spock’s body to say, “You are right, doctor,” over and over again.
As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).
How to Find Out What Really Happened
Introducing the character Mr. Everywhere gave me a real problem, because the amount of room I had to work with in a frame was limited, and I couldn’t logically show Omnipresent Man and not show Mr. Everywhere there with him. If they’re both everywhere, it follows that they must be everywhere together.
Of course, I technically should have included Omnipresent Man in every panel of every comic I wrote from the moment I invented him on. I chose to sort of cheat and just not show him. Then, I created a second character who gave me the same problem, forcing me to cheat twice.
As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).