Posts Tagged ‘Paul’
15 items.
This storyline came about because the summer after dropping out of UMass, I house sat in New Orleans, a mix of wanting to be close to my brother who was living there at the time, and not knowing what to do next with my life.
Lenny’s Mug reads, “Jove’s Drink.”
Comment
She’s playing the “I’m squishing you between my fingers” game.
Paul was interesting to write. Someone who would be outside of my usual liberal circles, and sometimes even rather unlikable. It was also interesting to write it so that Bruno accepted him, but Lenny and Paul show outright animosity towards each other.
Anyhow, Paul and Bruno. Paul is one of those friends, who you got to know, and saw a good side of them, and your friendship continued on, despite further and deepening evidence that your values are very divergent.
I think a strength the both of them have is being able to mock each other’s values, and still get on.
I lived (house sat) in New Orleans the summer I wrote these strips. And I can tell you, the roaches, crawling, hiding, flying…. they gave me the willies. I felt guilty each time I attacked, but attack i did.
In New Orleans, sitting around the house in a bra or small top is totally reasonable.
I’m guessing this strip originally ran in late spring/early summer.
Notice the cockroach on the wall. I’m telling you, I was obsessed.
I’m sure this strip was mainly just to say “yay” about that news. Â And although this strip was part of the experiment of writing such an opposing foil, I think I played Paul a little too one-dimensional here.
I believe I had just read “Confederacy of Dunces” for the first time, which used the word “abortion” by the second definition “an object or undertaking regarded by the speaker as unpleasant or badly made or carried out.” I liked the evocativeness of it, especially in use of humor where it shows both the horror of the specified object as well as the over-the-topness of the character speaking.
And that’s honestly what the box read (of course, it was the San Francisco “treat”). Like lawyers claiming they really care*, and suppository chainsaws claiming they won’t hurt, I just don’t buy the line that they had pride, wanted to share, or that it was special.
*of course, some lawyers do, bless ‘em.
This was one of the first real close-ups I did with Bruno. I thought it helped set the intimate tone of the situation.
I find it interesting, that if one character despises another (like Lenny expressed in regards to Paul), it seems a little mean or petty. But if it’s returned, it makes it a bit more fun.
It’s like throwing snowballs at someone, unless your target wants to throw them back as well, you’re kinda’ being a jerk.
Somehow, Bruno’s observation reminds me of Groucho Marx’s famous quote, “I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member.”
