A new focus couldn’t hurt. After all, there’s a serious lack of video game comics online, already. Yes, someone will now try to comment and correct that last statement. Sigh.
Anyway, happy new year to all our readers. All three of you.
“Show it, don’t tell” is a good rule of writing. The basic idea, for those who don’t know, is that instead of telling me a character is grumpy, you should instead show me through their actions. In other words, don’t give me pages of exposition from the narrator, but show me through the plot development. That rule is even more true in visual media like comics, but of course, we’re still prone to this pitfall. Note just about any film that features heavy narration telling us what the lead character is feeling about a particular turn of events.
My family used to have a cat that if we made our arm and hand into the form of a snake and said, “Here comes the pit viper!” she would go nots. Her solution was never to go find another pit viper to fight her battle for her. Smart cat.
How something like Elf on the Shelf becomes a “Christmas tradition” overnight befuddles me. I get that it’s heavy marketing, but I talk to people who act like they grew up with it as a tradition, which doesn’t seem possible. I suspect something sinister is rewriting people’s minds. No, not Obama–Hallmark.
Internship would also work as a substitute here, but there’s always a way to get free labor out of students. I suspect Santa is running an online university of some kind. University of North Pole? Kringle College?
I have rarely known someone to actually act this way, but my wife does complain that my video background makes me unable to enjoy anything video related in a film (zoom and enhance). So when I say rarely, I mean myself. Don’t buy me episodes of CSI as gifts.
Every profession brings hazards along with it. Some are just better hidden than others. Some don’t feel like they should be at all.
There have been a few confused comments on other sites about this comic, so me take a moment to do something I don’t normally and try to make it clearer. This is not a joke. This strip is not meant to make you laugh. It’s meant to be a little harsh. The juxtaposition here is that elementary education should never be a dangerous profession. It should make you uncomfortable because it is wrong.
What happened in Connecticut was tragic and wrong. Soldiers dying is also tragic, but every soldier signing up knows that is a distinct possibility. No one signs up for education thinking about their life being in danger. Nor should it be. It should be a wake up call to us as a society. Something is wrong. If it still offends people, then I truly apologize. Offense was not the intent.
The end of the semester and the year are great for the break that they bring, but horrible for the stress they bring for a couple of weeks. I’m not sure which of the three–writing, grading, or wrapping–I dread more.
There are two good things about 12/12/12. The first is that this close to the end of the Mayan calendar, I can make predictions with certainty about it (the world will not end) and even if I’m wrong no one will be around to rub it in. Yet, there’s short enough of a turn around that maybe people will remember and label me a genius. Or just a jerk. Probably the second one.
The second good thing is that for one day I don’t have to listen to Europeans being smug about how they have the better date format. Ha, we just don’t know today. Return to being smug tomorrow.
This is one of those real conflict areas of the Bible. We all know how an average nine-year-old might behave with supernatural powers, but did Jesus? I doubt many theologians waste time on this issue, but it’s still interesting.
Facebook
Funny or Die
Google Plus
Twitter
Viddler
Vimeo
YouTube