Woman. Woe! Man!

Or is it, "Whoa. Man."?

Remember that pre-Austin Powers, post-Wayne’s World Michael Myers movie, “So I Married An Axe Murderer”? That’s where this week’s title comes from. If you think about it, Mike Myers (not the serial killer, or the Sox situational lefty from 2003 and 2004) was pretty much one movie away from taking up residence as the center square.

“Wayne’s World” was an unmitigated success but “Wayne’s World 2”, “SIMAAM” and “54” were absolute stinkfests. Until “The Spy Who Shagged Me” took the world by storm (thank you production tie-ins and DVDs--many people forget that AP was a minor cult hit in the theaters), Myers was looking down the barrel of a Dana Carvey-esque career.

Sure they both made us laugh together and on Saturday Night Live, but they seemed to suck when it came to box office success. So what the hell does have to do with anything, well there are two things: one, I am going to start writing a once-a-week pop culture entry, sort of like a Larry King type thing where I am a bit more lucid. I’ll post those either on Friday night or Saturday mornings.

Two, since I didn’t think that a lot of people would get the Def Leppard anagram for W.O.M.A.N. (worship our master’s every needs—seen on a friend’s DL concert t-shirt), I thought I’d go with the somewhat more recognizable quote from a decent, bordering on good, movie that came out in 1994. I actually saw this movie with my dad when he and I took a trip to Toronto that year.

In this week’s strip, we have Eddie lamenting about the same old stuff, chicks to his best bud, Kurt. BTW, you can check it out the lamentations here: www.room19comics.com

I’m a married man now, but I remember back in my swingin’ singles days the stupid plans I’d come up with to get some alone time with a woman. This was one of them, the old homework trick. Nothing like trying to outsmart a chick with the illusion of trying to smarten them up. Unless the girl likes you, it never works.

This strip sort of wrote itself, and actually it had to, as I’m down to the last of my original Room 19 Comics ideas. As the norm for most of the strips, Kurt is playing the straight man, sympathizing with his friend, but at the same time showing him that the trick does work, you just have to be smooth enough to make it work.

The one thing that I’m not particularly wild about in this strip is the last panel. I’m not too crazy about the perspective, where Kurt is shown in the foreground and Eddie in the back. It almost looks as if Eddie is more pissed at Kurt than the situation. That is not meant to be the case. Kurt’s way of rubbing it in wasn’t appreciated, but the ultimate “indignity” of being “forced” to study for five hours with no payoff is supposed to be the slight.

On further review, I probably should have had Eddie pissed off and saying something like, “I got an A- on the test though” as if he would rather flunk and get a piece of ass than get a good grade but nothing. Actually, most guys I knew were like that. Ahhh well, such is life.

This is the third strip where Eddie is wearing his weird-ass, Charlie Brown inspired shirt. Ever since I saw Urban Dance Squad’s “A Deeper Shade of Soul” and the DJ was wearing the Charlie Brown shirt, I’ve wanted one. That thing kicked ass, just a yellow shirt and a black wrap-around zig zag. Very simple, yet so iconic. That’s how you get into the subconscious of this country, you make something so simple that folks can identify with. Nobody likes complex, which is why “Arrested Development” isn’t on free television anymore.

Speaking of which, AD is heavily rumored to be going to Showtime for another 26 episodes (13 a year), which is excellent news. Now I just have to get Showtime, which is a small price to pay for the best show ever.

BTW, you have to check out the Winnipeg Jets shirt on Kurt. That was a fucking hockey team, from their collection of anonymous Europeans to the gigantic portrait of Queen Victoria, that is a hockey team that I miss. Tomas Steen, I salute you.

Also check out the newest links on the Blog roll, one is about a former lawyer who walked into work one day and quit so that he can hike the Appalachian Trial, the other is about a dude who likes music. The one thing in common, they love the Red Sox.