Catching up
Though I wasn't away for a happy reason, the lack of TDIET in my life for the last few days has made the days just a bit sunnier. Let's take a look back...
Monday's strip found a family movie on at 3 a.m. I'm having a hard time believing they couldn't find anything comparable to Fat and Skinny in 'Playground Frolics' on tv at normal hours (assuming they have cable). I'm not saying it's easy to find family programming (not that I try), but watching something starring "Fat and Skinny" doesn't seem particularly educational or whatnot. And judging from the video box (courtesy of Frankie Machine), I'm not going to go out and recommend it. My reaction no doubt echoes the reaction of most everyone else who saw this strip: DVRs. Netflix. Look into it.
Tuesday's strip is, I think, trying to say something about modern medicine (or the U.S. healthcare system), but I'm not sure what. It seems to imply that neither prescription medicines or various home remedies work. I think the sarcastic "Ri-i-i-i-ight" is in response to the guy recommending gargling salt water (which does work, albeit briefly). And naturally Home Remedy Guy has to thrown in the trademark "Oh yeah" at the end of his recommendations. But the caption seems to imply that the home remedies work. I'm confused.
As for today's strip, we learn that it's bad to exercise and be wealthy enough to have a cleaning woman. While I realize that cleaning is a good way to burn calories, a lot of people find jogging and going to exercises classes a lot more enjoyable than cleaning (I am not one of those people, mind you; unless there's someone chasing me with a knife, I won't be running). I have mixed feelings about the employer, because the comment in there about window cleaning being good for the woman's arthritis does seem wrong. But why is the cleaning woman so upset about her employer asking her to clean the windows? Her job is to clean the place. I would hope that there's another means of employment this woman can look into if cleaning is too hard for her, but as long as your job is to come and clean someone's house, actually cleaning the house doesn't seem like an outrageous request.
Or I'm just incredibly cold-hearted and stomp on the downtrodden. One or the other.
posted by Barb @ 11:27 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
I think the answer to today's strip may be even more obvious, and a subtle commentary on the state of the US today - Helga doesn't speak English. Hence the "Huh? Wha?" bit - without pointing directly at the windows and miming a washing movement with your hands... Helga is clueless.
Or it could just be that TDIET is just stupid.
Learn to draw children, TDIET. Gah. Ugly, ugly kids. Anyway, regarding TODAY'S strip, it's mixed up and all over the place. Okay, so we're supposed to feel sorry for Helga, I guess, the 64 year old cleaning woman, because...she's being forced to CLEAN? What the hell? First of all, 64 isn't too old to freaking clean things, and secondly, it's her job. Either TDIET is suggesting that Migraina kindly fire Helga, or worse, that she continue to pay her, but without expecting her to do what she's been hired for.
Yessir, I'm a bit torn on today's. Technically, sure, Migraina isn't forcing Helga to do anything, but when you're a 64-year-old unskilled illegal immigrant, what are you supposed to do?
I think the key stupidity of the strip is that the juxtaposition is spurious. The second panel is a bit cruel, maybe, but what does it have to do with Migraina exercising a lot? Overworking the help and exercising conscientiously, as character traits, don't actually have anything to do with each other. The "it'll help your arthritis" bit is a futile, desperate attempt to cover that up.
I love how children in TDIET all look like middle-aged midgets. In fact, nobody in the strip looks younger than 55, including even the infants.
And for that matter, wouldn't most people cleaning the floor probably mop it a bit, rather than taking a small scrubber and doing the entire room that way?
I think perhaps the issue is that by adding the phrase "it'll help your arthritis" the homeowner is acting like she's doing this woman a favor. Being an insensitive boss is hardly uncommon, though, and what that has to do with jogging, I can't say.
universal health care ftw
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