This Week’s Cartoon: “Consumer Nudism”
I decided to take a week off from the Republican primaries and other assorted nonsense in order to address the pressing matter of "five-fingered" footwear. The other naked-themed items leapt out at me around the same time. I don't have a problem with minimalist shoes or other back-to-basics products, but I do find them curious cultural artifacts. Simplicity has major authenticity in this cluttered world. (Somewhat-related strip here.)
While researching this strip, I learned that Naked juices are owned by PepsiCo and Odwalla by Coca-Cola. It's like a high-end fruit drink proxy war!
Splitting Goatee Hairs
A number of readers have tweeted, emailed, and commented to inform me that I am confusing the Van Dyke beard with the goatee in this week's cartoon. I call this goatee strict constructionism -- sort of the Clarence Thomas view of facial hair (setting aside the fact that Clarence Thomas is actually a judicial activist). I believe in a broader interpretation, a living goatee, if you will. Or, to quote from previous-post commenter Mike Peterson:
So it turns out that absolutely nobody is wearing goatees these days after all.
The only other possible explanation is that language isn’t frozen in amber but grows and changes with time, and we know that can’t be the case.
I would also point readers to this Cincinnati Enquirer article on the history of goatees, which places the Van Dyke firmly in the chronology of goatee evolution (or devolution, as the case may be).
I mean, when's the last time someone famous (Keith Olbermann, Jon Stewart, Brad Pitt) sprouted one of these and everyone called it a Van Dyke? No, we use the word "goatee." Oh, and Olbermann shaved his sprouting goatee just a day after this cartoon appeared on Daily Kos. COINCIDENCE???
This Week’s Cartoon: The Rise and Fall of the Goatee
Before a torrent of angry, goatee-defending email is unleashed upon my inbox, let me say I am mostly a fan of our furry friend. I find a well-maintained goatee to be far more appealing than a scraggly hipster beard filled with artisanal doughnut particles. What I'm talking about here is how the chin beard has been bastardized, its centuries of coolness diluted by present-day dipwads.
I'd already been thinking of doing a cartoon on the shifting symbolism of goatees when I noticed Pepper Spray Cop had one. He's clean-shaven in the head shot that's been floating around the internet, but he does have one in footage of the UC Davis incident (via Queerty):
This Week’s Cartoon: “Winter Hat Semiotics”
Been a while since I rapped at ya, I know. I've been busy vacationing at the Slowpoke Underground Bunker and Research Lab in an undisclosed location in the Rockies, and also working on a cool freelance project I hope to share with you in a few weeks.
I've been fascinated by the rise of the ironic trapper hat, as shown in the first panel. A couple months ago, I tried on a big one at REI. Then, the other night, I watched a hip young woman dancing in a bar while wearing one of these grandfatherly noggin-warmers. The left girl in the first panel is basically her. I also saw a mohawk-hat kid the other day. For more silly hats and amusing ski vacation anecdotes, I suggest you check out my friend Lloyd Dangle's recent blogging and sketching from the Sierras.
I saw a bunch of animal-ear hats when I was at the San Diego Comicon, and also one at that same bar the other night. Please, people! Friends don't let their adult friends walk around wearing little knit cat ears! Unless they are filming porn, that is.
Pages
Categories
Blogroll
- AAEC
- Cagle Cartoons
- Campus Progress
- Cartoonists With Attitude
- Comic Riffs
- Daily Cartoonist
- Funny Times
- GoComics
Archive
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
Meta
