Ragweed and the closet. PLUS! Pushover mothers and

From the name of the wife (Nubbia? Really?) to the concept, I don't get today's strip. I mean, I do to a point--you think getting more closet space will lead to having more room, but it still fills up! But why does Ragweed look so upset in the bottom panel? It's really those Disgust/Anger Lines over his head that confuse me. Ragweed, dude, if there's not enough room in your closet, it's your fault, not the closet's. Just go through and get rid of whatever you don't wear. (And judging from the suit in the top panel, he should also get rid of the stuff he does wear.) I mean, both Ragweed and Nubbia look mad in the bottom panel. Why? Also, it doesn't look much worse than before; it looks the same.

Are there honestly parents like the mom in yesterday's strip? I cannot imagine telling my mom that I didn't want to eat when she called me for dinner. (And Alonzo looks like a teenager; aren't teenaged boys always hungry?) At the very least, I'd have to come down and sit at the table, and probably pick at my food. I'm assuming that Mom tells Alonzo that he can find his own food at this point, because if I were her, I certainly wouldn't be serving him anything. Or telling him he would just have to wait until breakfast, if this is something he pulls with any regularity. There is absolutely no reason why she should put up with this behavior.

In Monday's strip, we're again in an office. [Insert usual comments about lack of computers, etc., here.] I'm kind of at a loss for words. "No alibis"? Shouldn't that be "excuses"? Except, of course, that it was used in the expo box. Not that it makes it better. And Honcho is smoking in his office? I don't think that's legal in many places. Honestly, I think this would've worked better if it had just been that Honcho insisted on punctuality, but was still late in getting shipments out. Ha ha! The company is clearly headed down the tubes! Oh, yeahhh! Honestly, though, I wouldn't think that Boss Honcho would be in charge of making shipments, would he? That seems to be a bit below his pay grade.

You'd think food would bring them running. Though it is TDIET food.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that people gather in the kitchen, so today's strip is something that people will pretty much do every time. I'm not really sure of the complaint here. Is is that everyone is in the kitchen, or is it that they all then disappear when dinner is actually ready? We always got kicked off the kitchen table shortly before dinner (so we could set it), and thus kind of had to scatter. So I'm not really sure which is the problem. I think it's that everyone is around, then disappears right before the food arrives. Well, I guess that could be annoying, but it just leads to someone yelling "DINNER!!!" really loudly.

Yeah. I'm not feelin' this one.

Also, at first I thought that the girl behind the mom was, like, her sister, but I think she's supposed to be a teenaged daughter.

Return to Rachel Ray

Should we look at today's strip, or should we simply flash back to last October? I'm at the point where I kind of hope that Al looks at his suggestions and is all, "Seriously, another one complaining about tv chefs? I just did a strip about that! Don't you people have anything original to complain about? *sigh* At least it's not about waiting at a doctor's office."

Well, at least Al could be a bit original about it. But he's not. He uses the "turn the egg whites inside out and beat counter-clockwise" in both strips. And for some reason, Mrs. Barfwell is confused about the "counter-clockwise" part. If it were me, I'd be hung up on the "inside out" part of that instruction. I'm just happy that in today's strip, there is a valid complaint in that the chef actually said that the recipe would be simple, and it apparently isn't. That beats the previous strip, when the home chef just thought it would be easy. Although I will say "zucchini pot pie"? Ew.

Anyway, just check out what I said last October. Who knew this would get easier as time went on? This is going to get to the point where I just have to link to previous entries.

Do that many restaurants close between lunch and dinner?

Wow. Today's strip marks the second retirement-focused strip in less than a week. I assume that we're supposed to shake our heads at Barfwell. Always late for dinner! You'd think that after a while, his wife would realize this and perhaps push dinner back. And why not be annoyed with him? It's not like it's his job that provides money to pay for the food. It's not like he can't tell how long his commute will take--because both driving and public transportation are so predictable! The solution would be to do what my dad does; namely, he calls my mom when he's leaving so she has an idea of when he'll be home.

And wow, he got there before the early bird dinner? What time is it--2:30? Maybe he's not going for dinner; maybe it's a late lunch. Mid-afternoon snack? And now he can be early because he doesn't have to work. It sure doesn't look like he was willfully coming home late for dinner, just to spite his wife. Plus, he's saving money! Everyone wins!

Expo box disconnect

Ah, after a break, we once again see the good ol' "...to the moon" setup in today's strip (as well as in the strip from a couple of days ago). I guess he realized that he hadn't used it in a while, and is now overcompensating a bit.

Interestingly enough, the protagonist of the strip is the one with the negative name; perhaps because none of the rest of her family is given names. It's not Fussia that's fussy in the strip. I'd say Al dropped the ball.

It seems that the illustrations don't necessarily match what the expo boxes say. I feel like it would be funnier if in the bottom panel, not only did her family all want the same thing, but they'd all want something fancier. In the top panel, they all want pretty basic fare; the same thing is true in the bottom panel. And in the top panel, the problem is that they all want different dishes; it's that they all want something other than what she's prepared. Unless we're supposed to assume that if they all said that they wanted hamburgers, she would've changed dinner--doubtful, seeing how the lamb stew was already prepared. And really, you'd think Fussia would be happy in the bottom panel. At least burgers and fries are cheap.

I don't know what to make of the fact that the "Thanks to" person is in quotes. "Gilferd"? There are some strange people out there.