But Michelangelo was gay and the David was modeled after his favorite male prostitute. Since Cynthia loves to push the envelope you would think she would keep the same-sex love story.
I can’t tell whether this is intentionally lame or unintentionally lame. But either way, it’s forced and random.
I hate it when Bizarro does random pun strips, and I hate it when Family Circus does random pun strips (I especially loathe the “Wiley’s Dictionary” gags in B.C., but at least they don’t show up on Sundays.) Since this one, like the Family Circus strips, uses the conceit that it’s being produced by a child, it’s kind of criticism-proof, but if they’re thinking of making this a recurring event I vote “Nay” with extreme prejudice.
“Lame” may have been an overstatement, but I’m still underwhelmed. I’m as much a fan of the Art and Philosophy bent in “Barney and Clyde” as you are, Eldo, but this one doesn’t really mean anything in the context of the strip (whereas Cynthia’s painting of her father as a camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle definitely had a context).
I can’t help comparing it to the “Calvin & Hobbes” strip where Calvin himself was trapped in a world without artistic perspective, leading to the same pun concerning emotional perspective. There, it gave insight into the character. Here, it’s random and (I still maintain) forced.
If this has actually been done by a 12 year-old (or however old Cynthia is supposed to be), I’d say “Well done, young lady.” But it wasn’t, anymore than the lame “Billy Steps In” cartoons in *Family Circus” are actually drawn by a child.
(By the way, one of the Reuben nominees this year is Glenn Keane, the real-life oldest child of Bil Keane. He’s a big shot animator at Disney. I’m still rooting for Richard “Cul de Sac” Thompson, but the man who designed and animated the Beast in Disney’s “Beauty & the Beast” is all right in my book.)
Besides (to get really nit-picky), Michaelangelo was primarily a sculptor and, as such, not a particularly good example of one who was a “master of perspective”. Even in his two famous frescoes, the Sistene Chapel ceiling and “The Last Judgment”, the emphasis is almost entirely on the figures (and they’re almost all foreground) so, while foreshortening of the figures themselves is key (and admittedly very well done), there are few backgrounds or architectural structures to render. A better choice might have been Leonardo and “The Last Supper” (although we’d still have the problem of him pining over Francesca rather than Francisco), or Raphael (but while his “School at Athens” would have been a WONDERFUL example to cite, it doesn’t have a high enough recognition factor).
OK, I’m retiring the Cranky Pants for today. My first post this morning was a spleen-venting about the inherent French inability to ROCK, and that sort of set the tone for subsequent posts…
randayn about 13 years ago
Take That, Bizarro!
Patchee about 13 years ago
But Michelangelo was gay and the David was modeled after his favorite male prostitute. Since Cynthia loves to push the envelope you would think she would keep the same-sex love story.
fritzoid Premium Member about 13 years ago
I can’t tell whether this is intentionally lame or unintentionally lame. But either way, it’s forced and random.
I hate it when Bizarro does random pun strips, and I hate it when Family Circus does random pun strips (I especially loathe the “Wiley’s Dictionary” gags in B.C., but at least they don’t show up on Sundays.) Since this one, like the Family Circus strips, uses the conceit that it’s being produced by a child, it’s kind of criticism-proof, but if they’re thinking of making this a recurring event I vote “Nay” with extreme prejudice.
Dirty Dragon about 13 years ago
It’s Dill from “Cul de Sac”!
fritzoid Premium Member about 13 years ago
“Lame” may have been an overstatement, but I’m still underwhelmed. I’m as much a fan of the Art and Philosophy bent in “Barney and Clyde” as you are, Eldo, but this one doesn’t really mean anything in the context of the strip (whereas Cynthia’s painting of her father as a camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle definitely had a context).
I can’t help comparing it to the “Calvin & Hobbes” strip where Calvin himself was trapped in a world without artistic perspective, leading to the same pun concerning emotional perspective. There, it gave insight into the character. Here, it’s random and (I still maintain) forced.
If this has actually been done by a 12 year-old (or however old Cynthia is supposed to be), I’d say “Well done, young lady.” But it wasn’t, anymore than the lame “Billy Steps In” cartoons in *Family Circus” are actually drawn by a child.
(By the way, one of the Reuben nominees this year is Glenn Keane, the real-life oldest child of Bil Keane. He’s a big shot animator at Disney. I’m still rooting for Richard “Cul de Sac” Thompson, but the man who designed and animated the Beast in Disney’s “Beauty & the Beast” is all right in my book.)
fritzoid Premium Member about 13 years ago
Besides (to get really nit-picky), Michaelangelo was primarily a sculptor and, as such, not a particularly good example of one who was a “master of perspective”. Even in his two famous frescoes, the Sistene Chapel ceiling and “The Last Judgment”, the emphasis is almost entirely on the figures (and they’re almost all foreground) so, while foreshortening of the figures themselves is key (and admittedly very well done), there are few backgrounds or architectural structures to render. A better choice might have been Leonardo and “The Last Supper” (although we’d still have the problem of him pining over Francesca rather than Francisco), or Raphael (but while his “School at Athens” would have been a WONDERFUL example to cite, it doesn’t have a high enough recognition factor).
OK, I’m retiring the Cranky Pants for today. My first post this morning was a spleen-venting about the inherent French inability to ROCK, and that sort of set the tone for subsequent posts…