This comic is based on the deck-building game “Dominion”, which I have played a few times and am completely unable to form any kind of strategy for. I understand how to play, but have no idea how to play better. [ July 29, 2014 ]
Category: Commentary
But…why?
EPILOGUE: I actually ended up calling the Public Works department and they confessed. The shrub was on the boulevard, which is a narrow strip of land on every yard that follows the street and which the city actually owns. Citizens are asked to maintain it by mowing and such. The city likes to plant trees and bushes along the boulevard, and they’re perfectly within their rights to march around town and cut or move things as they see fit. Which is what happened; that bush in particular is an aggressive grower and the Corn & Apple festival was about to be in town, so the city workers were just going along the streets and cleaning up messy shrubbery before visitors showed up.
It did make for an awkward phone call. “Hi, I live on <street> and…I think my shrub was stolen?” [ July 29th, 2014 ]
Sneaky
Reading back over the comic I of course have no idea what the codes say, and my phone actually doesn’t have a reader built in by default. BUT I solved the mystery, so if you want to know, here it is:
Where the text would be: FOOLISH HUMANS AND THEIR “DEMOGRAPHICS”! HA HA HA
Where the art would be: [HUMOROUS DEPICTION OF A ROBOT SUBDUING A SAD, FLESHY HUMAN]
Note that there isn’t a depiction in itself by scanning that code, just the description of one. There you go! [ July 29, 2014 ]
Wanted to stop, but couldn’t!
I look at the image in the last panel and feel as though I’ve gone to that well more than once. But come on, there is just something hilarious about the image of my author-insert stick person crying and filling his face. [ July 29, 2014 ]
“My, earth really is full of things.”
“The Orange”, the box label seen in panel 3, is a subtle reference to Metal Gear Solid 2. I know this isn’t the only comic I’ve used it in, though I don’t have a list handy. [July 10, 2014]
Ubiquitously Hip
Life is a funny thing; there is now a Tragically Hip song that I actually like (“Fireworks”). Just one for now, but who knows where life will take me next? [July 10, 2014]
P.S. In writing the above commentary I trolled myself; I was going to refer to the TH song in the alt-text, but then I stopped and thought “Wait a minute, that’s an REM song! Wh– oohh.“
Occupy Backyard
This comic is actually taken verbatim from a phone conversation with Lori, like it claims. The “and then, hey!” bit was far better in its original delivery, because she had just that second realized what the benefits are of having a lawn infested by robots. I even tried to preserve her pauses. I came up with the robot designs and artwork myself. [July 10, 2014]
The Bad Crowd
The witch in this story is supposed to be Baba Yaga, who is indeed from eastern European folklore but whom I first met as a kid playing the game Hero’s Quest (or Quest For Glory, as it came to be known). I get pretty into folklore like this sometimes, because it’s neat and also because I didn’t really grow up with any. Mennonite communities — like the one I grew up in — tend to have a lot of pragmatic, conservative people who don’t have time for “folk tales” and other imaginative nonsense. [May 14th, 2014]
Ponchoooooooo
I felt like this needed clarifying; ponchos in Manitoba are a rare sight even in good weather. In November they make basically no sense. [May 14th, 2014]
Never said ‘finish’
For a long time it was on my bucket list to write an entire novel. I feel sometimes like there is an actual, entire novel in my brain somewhere if I took the time and energy to drag it out of myself, and ideas like National Novel Writing Month seem like the best way to go — no time to edit or overthink, just write like the wind. It’s still something I fantasize about sometimes.
Oh yes, the middle panel is a reference to this classic comic. [May 14th, 2014]