Saturday, October 18, 2008

Some Lighter Notes


Hale and hearty congratulations to Joe and his wife, Megan, who gave birth to a healthy boy, Spencer Graham Joplin-Wack, on Friday. The kid's a seven pound blob of cute. Good health and godspeed.
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Nearly 28 years after entering the realm of newspaper comic strips, Berkeley Breathed is calling it quits for the third and final time; one gets the sense that this will truly be it. Breathed's run on Bloom County during the 80s provided an influential satirical and political voice for those not served, due to youth or preference, by Garry Trudeau's dry wit on Doonesbury. While Outland and Opus, Breathed's follow up comic strip creations, were still fertile and humorous playgrounds, neither would come to match the brilliance of County's earlier run.

Alas, it seems the polarized, aggressive, yet still hyper-sensitive nature of current political discourse have finally gotten to Breathed, as he describes himself going to darker and darker places with both his view of our nation's society and his iconic penguin.

And so, adieu to Opus, Milo, Binkley, Binkley's dad, Bobbi Harlow, Steve Dallas, Cutter John, Lola Granola, Oliver Wendell Jones Sr. and Jr., the Banana Jr. 6000, Portnoy, Hodge-Podge, Rosebud the Basselope, and Bill "Oop, Ack" the Cat. We haven't seen most of you in a while, but with Opus gone, our bridge to your universe grows a bit weaker. Your correspondent now goes to listen to his Billy and the Boingers maxi-single.

Read: Berkely Breathed's Interview with Salon
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Breathed has a point, true humor is a precious commodity these days. So, it is heartening to see the two presidential candidates in a rare display of mutual jocularity, trading barbs and lacerating themselves on occasion. Those who worry that Obama has no humor to speak of will be quite pleasantly surprised; he lands some solid barbs against Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, and ends with a touching tribute to Tim Russert. Rachel Maddow provides the context of this joint appearance.

[McCain roasts - 0m00s
Obama introduced - 7m45s
Obama roasts - 11m00s]

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats Joe! Get some sleep, rest up, take it easy, chill out, replenish your energy.

That latter sentence there? Take a good look, 'cause that's the last time you'll see those words for a while.

Seriouly, this is a great thing. Congratulations again!

Joe said...

Sleep? What the fuck is that? Seriously, someone define it for me, as I've forgotten.

the beige one said...

Sleep - n.; Something Joe Wack won't be experiencing a healthy amount of for at least 8 months.