Grrl Power #190 – Newhart phonecall
I’ve been told that girls actually do this with last names sometimes. Sydney’s reversing it obviously but you see it in sit-coms all the time where a woman meets an attractive guy and she introduces herself by blurting out her first name followed by his last name. I’m sure most girls have either never or rarely do this, but still, as a guy, learning this was anything more than a sit-com gag this kind of blew me away. As far as I’m aware, guys never meet women and imagine them with their last name until after they’ve been dating them for 3+ years. Still, I thought it would be amusing to see Sydney subvert it a little since she’s asserted that whoever she marries will be taking her last name.
It may be a while within the comic before we actually get to meed Sydney’s folks, so hopefully this page will give you some idea of what they’re like. Guess which one Sydney takes after more. Unrelated, I don’t think I drew Leon tall enough in relation to Sydney. He has bad posture though so I’ll blame it on that.
Spelling tip of the day: while writing this I learned that blond is for men and blonde is for women. Also for some reason Evernote’s dictionary flags blonde as misspelled. It also thinks that “Evernote’s” is misspelled. I don’t understand why spellcheck dictionaries are so flummoxed by apostrophe esses. I assume Evernote shares dictionaries with Chrome or there’s a Windows one they all use. Whatever the case is, it seems curiously deficient with a lot of fairly common words.
I had planned on using the QR Code gag back on this page, (when Leon’s shirt was green, whoops) but it wound up being too small to scan, so I just sat on it for… almost exactly a year. Wow. Apparently I’m patient.
I’ll be doing a live interview this Saturday, Feb 22 at 10 -11am CST on Google Hangouts. I think it will just be me and Kurt Sasso from TGT Media on the video call, but people will be able to live chat with us during the interview and we’ll definitely take questions. I’ll update this space as I get more details. link! UPDATE! I originally posted this as 11am -12 but it’s 10-11 am CST. Stupid timezones.
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OK at 21 she is part owner of a failing business, can afford to take long distance holidays and indulge in not excataly cheep hobbies, I’d say she’s collectively in to the Bank and Credit Cards for 15-25K, her cut of the Business Debts would be around an other 125K (as an equal partner), she’s likely got a lease on a dinky little one bedroom flat some were, likely sleeping on a folder bed in the lounge wile the bedroom is full of “Stuff” (Comics, RPG’s, Merch ect.), she doesn’t appear to have a Degree or be studding unless she’s doing a Small Business Diploma part time (unless she did that already after leaving school).
I’d say she’s a couple of months away from storing her stuff in her parents garage and couch surfing wile she looks for a shear house.I’d loved to have seen Sydney’s version of “He Died With A Felafel In His Hand”
Sounds like a probable scenario. Likewise agreeing that business degree/diploma is lacking, as she was unaware of the financial state of the shop. I suspect that Joel is the one with that.
At least we do not have to wait for her to finish basic training before she gets a pass to go home. We will get to see some of her normal life soon. Maybe even tomorrow.
A lot assumptions going on here: we don’t know how often she goes on holiday (this may have been the only one outside of school trips or as a kid with her parents, maybe a relative died and she used the inheritance to get away {that was how was able to go to US back in 2001 after a grandmother died, and then in 05 or 06 after dad and brother died, took brothers ashes to England, then spent 2 weeks touring Europe and Scotland, those were the only 2 times ever left the country in 40+ years})
She may play table-top RP games, but that doesn’t mean she owns all the books and stuff, and she can satisfy her comic-geekism through the store (no need to buy them when she can read them off the shelf)
^That. And I can say from experience that a willingness to give into temptation on minor matters and hyperactivity does NOT equal a lack of ability to budget. I stay inside my monthly budget very well – my only debt is student loans – I just might not eat enough sometimes *grin* because when I go on a manga-splurge or something it comes out of the food budget. Hello ramen-for-a-week.
I totally agree with your statements. For a private individual though. The reason I agreed with Drop Bear is because the pattern is very familiar for failing small businesses. By the time that they are saying “within six months we will have to close the store“, they will be in debt for the kinds of figures he is quoting. I have seen it happening with shops and restaurants I patronised, plus a bed and breakfast that friends’ owned.
And the credit card debt is almost always there on top of the bank debt. The details vary, but a common one is assuming that they will be living off the profits of the business, and thereby not budgeting sufficient salary to meet their needs. But if the income is not even covering the business bills and loan repayments, then there is no profit. The bank will not be happy if you choose to spend their dues on keeping your lights on at home. So the cards get tapped to keep food on the table and to pay other costs of living.
Have a look at a few episodes of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, and you will consistently see those sorts of patterns. He only gets called in when things are as bad as Joel describes, or worse.
I suspect she was the backing partner of the business; she either has money from her family or inherited it from elsewhere and invested it with Joel as the ‘brains’.
the big clue being she isn’t aware that much of the finances and doesn’t seem to be deeply concerned. Ive seen similar behavior from the children or grandchildren of the upper class before.
ps-
sometimes such things work out ( Bain Capital and Microsoft were both started by loans from the parents) and sometimes they don’t ( look at George w bush’s companies) but in either case the original loans would seem huge to us ( $35 million in the case of Bain) but from those families were considered a small risk to help their kids succeed.
Hey, nice deviation :) Congrats.
Looks good, including Syd joining the C-Team :D
The one who linked that song as Sydney’s theme obviously didn’t listen to it (not a bad song as such, just not Sydney-theme music)
That…was unintentional. It’s hard to draw smaller cupsizes and keep the character looking female.
Wasn’t complaining :)
I prefer smaller cup-sizes but she still looks good, regardless.
Yep, Kalietha did a great job on that fan-art, and scored a real coup in getting it favourited, on Deviant Art, by the author himself! I may regret my artistic deficiency, but am glad that is not the case for other, more talented, fans.
Thanks guys!
It’s funny how my reason for not eating enough is because I’m eating well.
Say hello to Mr. and Mrs. Expensive Cooking Material for no particular reason!
Also, why the assumptions that it is Sydney who is solely responsible for the business failing?
Oh, don’t get the impression that we are queuing up to blame Sydney. I would not get in that line! A couple of things are incontrovertible though.
1) “The buck stops here” applies to the head of an organisation. In this case it is both Sydney and Joel. Even if Joel is the business mind to the partnership and Sydney is the one who has the specific expertise on their industry, and they split their responsibilities accordingly, she should paid more attention to the bottom line as an equal partner.*
2) The business is failing. A stark reality which has to be accepted. Ok there are many reasons that can happen. And some of them can truly be beyond the control of small businesses. Such as unexpected world-wide depression. But, that same principle that controls point 1 also applies here. Whatever mitigating circumstances there may be, at the end of the day, they shoulder the success or failure between them. They are their own bosses, after all. And the consequences of failure could be as bleak, as Drop Bear points out.
But many businesses can pull themselves back from such threats. And over this story arc, we see that it is Sydney who is doing just that. Saving the day. As our heroine should!
So, no we do not blame her, as none of the above implies that she is not pulling her weight. And I certainly do not think that it is in that state because she is incompetent. To the contrary, she saw a huge marketing opportunity and she had the balls to seize it, without hesitation. Sydney may have made their little shop one of the most famous comic book stores on the planet overnight!
* Of course, reading between the lines, we know that this scene is mainly there to provide exposition showing the financial state of the business. Rather than to imply that Sydney has fumbled the catch.** Which it does in an organic way that leads into an hilarious scene, with a charming dog. But we have to take it as presented.
** And we now know that she recovered it before dropping the ball, regardless.
That was the point was attempting to make: it is not just Sydney at fault, nor is it just Joel, they are both responsible, if Sydney didn’t notice because she is Sydney (and gets distrac… ooo, shiney muffins!) then Joel should have informed her (and keep informing her)
Something similar happened with the local Comic/Gaming Store: when it opened, it had a man and woman running it, the man was the one ‘out front’, couple years later, he found he couldn’t handle it (or something) and left, fortunately the woman was able to pick up the slack and keep it going; maybe Sydney should re-think the comic business (but not leave Joel in the lurch to carry/recover everything)
Yep she sure has the “balls” to save the store
I didn’t say she was responsible for the businesses problems, I was pointing out that if the business goes under she will end up with $125K worth of debt, that’s after the bank wrights down the value of the Lease and shop fittings as a loss, wrights down the cost of goods when they take Pennies on the dollar for current stock and fractions of pennies on the Vintage and Back Issues stacks that’s if the paper goods don’t go strait in to the recycling dumpster.
Earlier in the series this same subject came up, and it was hypothesized that Sydney may have had some sort of windfall, a court settlement or small inheritance, thus allowing her to buy a new car, go on vacation, and invest in a small business.
Love the QR code pic :)
Great interview Dave. Lots of interesting things in there, which I am sure folks will bring up.is about flashbacks, given that you are umming and arring their future use. Whilst I am happy to go wherever the comic takes us, at it’s own pace, there are pitfalls to flashbacks which means that I typically hate their use. With a few exceptions, and the current storyline being one, I hate flashbacks because they ruin suspense.
But, say a super villain attack were to take place in this restaurant, we have no suspense as regards several of the key players (Sydney, Maxima and Anvil), who have got invincibility greater than Achille’s. We know that they will be unharmed up until the story goes past the date we saw them at the beginning of the comic. Yes, tricks can be pulled on the audience. Especially in a genre that provides clones, illusions and other deceptive powers. But those can just as easily alienate as entertain an audience.
Plus it locks in certain things, for fear of loosing continuity. Such as the shop scene. One of the reasons I was fighting so heavily to keep the options open. I am not invested in where the shop is, as either option has it’s uses. But once it is ‘locked in’ as definitively one or the other, then you, the author loose some of your flexibility in story telling. Sure, you can do a reboot, and change things, but that can really piss some folks off and loose hard earnt suspension of disbelief.
Sigh, and somehow the beginning of one of my sentences got snipped in editing:
I just realized the connection between her last name and spicy food: Scoville units are a unit of a peppers acidic content and therefore how spicy it is. so her last name is literally a unit of measuring spicyness
Welcome to the comments, have a Scoville Hershey Kiss(tm)
And, as her fame spreads, fan-boys around the planet will be looking at their own name and wondering how cool they would sound if it was changed to a unit measuring how fiery a curry is.
And now you can catch the pun :)
Actually, it is not the acids that make the difference, but the capsaicin. Most peppers are loaded with vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and other vitamins, but that is not what the Scoville scale is measuring.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/leon.jpg
Yep, I love how that QR code actually went somewhere. XD
Off topic: I LMAO with today xkcd strip :)
OMG I totaly missed this other. Rocks.
This is totally out of topic but I had to ask,
Does anyone else realizes Harem’s possible glaring weakness?
Well, no not really a weakness I guess more of a liability…
Hit one of her clones with some kind of vertigo inducing attack or maybe an attack that scrambles nerve signal(?) and well…. :D
And that is why I love neural weaponry.
Why make things more complicated than it needs be: just give her another wedgie and all 5 will be topple (unless she decides to go full commando in fear of another Maximum Wedgie {that’s an Atomic Wedgie, to the MAX!! or, dialling it up to 11 \m/})
I do not know, I am not sure if that is kinda getting tickled or more like getting flashbanged. DaveB stated that there is a difference.
I understand that as something that interfere with her physical operation will NOT be replicated, as each body is independent organically.
The even more glaring vulnerability is a bullet through the brain. Anything which is quantum linked, by definition, is affected by whatever happens to the thing it is linked to. Put a bullet through one brain and all will respond in the same manner. The grey and white matter will be ripped apart along the path of the bullet in all of them. Even though only one will actually have a bullet in it.
Not that DaveB need keep to this strict result though. As we can argue that it is only the neural pathways which are quantum linked, rather than the whole of the brain. But, even so, I imagine that it would still cause her quite a problem.
Tattoos prove she won’t have each brain shredded. Each copy doesn’t have pierced ears, although I am Sure at least one does.
She will feel the pain though. Probably enough to knock out all clones.
Provide a good starting point for constructing such a proof, maybe. Prove it on their own, nope.
There is clearly a major between her body (each of which can perform different actions at the same time and are therefore not quantum linked, as well as retaining a tattoo) and her brain (which allow her minds to all function as one and has been stated in canon as being quantum linked).
If her body was quantum linked, as well as her brain, then if she raised her right arm on one, all the others would do likewise. Clearly they are not. If any part of her, other than just her brain, is quantum linked, it does not include her limbs (which can hold different positions), her face (which can have distinct expressions at the same time) or her skin (which can hold a tattoo without affecting the others).
I am happy for arguments against my contention to be made. But do not feel that the tattoos disprove it at all.
We do not need the bodies for that happening. If the brains were actually synchronized a signal to move an arm would be replicated over all of them and Harem would be rocking at Thriller.
For starts DaveB established here:
“So Harem’s brain isn’t completely identical, particle for particle, there are bits that are entangled and bits that aren’t, allowing for incongruent actions and learning that are instantly replicated out to the whole. ”
Then only certain parts of the brain would be blew up :)
Jokes aside, the situation that you describe obviuosly is not what is happening because then Harem could not even turn her head (changing the position of the particles in her the brain).
The quantum entanglement is not an easy argument, I would say that being strict is not a mechanism that actually allows to maintain two brains synchronized.
We are reaching a limit in which overuse the explanation undoes his initial intention.
He sorta looks like me, tall, brownish, messy hair. maybe I should cosplay him.
Better yet: claim that Leon is cosplaying you :D
I don’t think his hair has it’s own gravitational pull…
ooooh! leon and Sydney! Leon and Sydney sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!!! lol, but they really are a cute couple
This is interesting:
Sydney is considering the possibility of Leon as husband material. But what’s interesting is that she’s thinking of Leon adopting Scoville, her last name. Granted, there are marriages where each keeps their own last names. And different cultures may have their own traditions. But I’m not aware of a culture where the husband takes the bride’s family name.
It does happen sometimes here in the US. Not often, true, but it’s one of the side-effects of feminism going too far.
Although it is mostly there for comical purposes. But it does show the egotistical side to her personality as well as highlighting some of the quirky line of thinking she has. Given that she wants her child to be Sydney Schoville the 3rd. So it is all good for expanding her character.
To be honest though, I was not aware that it was actually practised in the US, even if rarely. Which is interesting. But agree with your assessment of it. Although some aspects of tradition contain harmful sexist elements, many of the gender difference quirks in society are either harmless or to be celebrated. I will carry on offering my seat to member’s of the fairer sex, and/or holding the door open for them, until they day that I die or am too infirm to stand.
There is nothing wrong with that kind of gallantry. People often forget that chivalry is two-sided – only the male face of the coin is usually remembered. It’s intended for respect to be shown by both genders to each other. On the female side, we’re supposed to accept the help graciously, ask for help when we need it, and be appreciative when we do receive it….it’s hard to describe. It has to do with an awareness that male and female are complementary, not identical, and that each side’s strengths should be used, appreciated, and respected.
Ha! I love his shirt! Yay, for QR readers!
From the sound of it Sydney’s parents are a pretty laid back bunch. I don’t think I could be that cool with it if it was my daughter.
I like the fact that after “Hm, he’s a proper nerd” she moves to, “Does he sound okay with my last name?”
Serious selfshipper, this one.
That all depends on whether she can take the step from thinking about it to popping herself in the post. Some of us nerds are seriously incompetent at either doing it at all, or in doing it right.
Excuse me, what exactly means “selfshipper”, please?
A “shipper” is one of us fans that theorize what would happen when two (or more) characters that do NOT have a romantic relationship in various stories… DO have one in the discussions in forum posts, fanfic, slashfic, etc… an example would be of Ron Weasly and Draco Malfoy getting it on… not likely to happen in “real life” but the fandom “ships” them, an abreviation of relationship… thus a “self-shipper” would be a character that does the same while *in-canon* and self promotes a currently non-existent relationship: Sydney and Leon…
Oh, right, thank you :) I totally could figure it out but it seems I was half asleep and split it wrong way :)
Anyone else ever find themselves wanting to click on one of the character images at the top hoping it would redirect you to the page it’s from? (if this has been covered before then my apologies I’m new to this commenting thing.)
Problem with that: each image is random (every time the page refreshes, so too do the images), so having a link back to the page would be one thing if they were static (and some images are not from the comic) but doing so for random images would melt ozone
It would still be really cool if someone could figure out how XD
…..actually, I think I may have just figured it out. Not the code itself, but…The image randomizer works by choosing a random image url from a list, right? So…if you replace the image url for the code for that image linking to its origin, it should work. In theory. Just do that for all the images on the list, and voila! Though, of course, you’d have to edit the page code so you don’t have image brackets within image brackets as a result.
It would be cool. But it would also loose the very useful functionality of going to the cast list page, which is probably the more useful, especially for a new reader.
I must admit that when I first clicked on one, (after wondering if it had any functionality built in at all) I hoped that it would take me to the specific character details. But getting you to the page where you only need a single click to get that is close enough. And probably more useful, in the long run, because if you are looking up one character you may well want to compare them to the others for some reason.
Happy Birthday to me! ;D Anyhow, Dave! Loving the comic. And Sydney sure has her priorities straight. :) Family first, then nabbin’ a man! I am just enjoying this so much lately. :) Keep it up.
Happy birthday! *showers you in confetti and chocolate cake*
Many happy returns of the day! Or belated happy returns, as the case may be.
I’ve got two thumbs ;D Great idea. I have to find/make shirt like that for my self
What, no comments on Sydney’s interactions with her parents? Like.. the fact that she forgot to mention she has superpowers before showing them off on (inter)National television? *L*
From the one sided conversation, I’m guessing Sydney gets her comic book geekyness from Dad…
Because the TV fact was readily deducible from what we have seen in the story to date, and has been talked about quite a bit over the months. Albeit usually focussed on Joel, rather than her parents. But if you peek through the last couple of pages of comments on the above comic, you will find a few about the points you raise. And, yep, I agree her dad scores highly in his geek cred rating.
We can deduce that they do not live that close to her though. Given that she does have a car, so is not restricted in her mobility. But, despite clearly getting on ok with her parents still had to use the phases “I will come visit the first chance I get. It is not a big deal as I can fly now.” Granted, the point being to reassure them and point out the perks of her power. But the fact that she says “not a big deal” does tend to imply that previously it might have been.
Testing using URLs…
Not the same page
comment bare: http://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1164#comment-53131
comment embedded
Still says “Sulking in the Shadows” instead of “Skulking”
That is because it is one of the jokes. :)
I think Leon is now officially the luckiest man on earth.
Leon’s shirt is a smart ass
Just a marketing thought here, DaveB. How about offering a commission service, where people send in their photo and you do a caricature, and post it to a web page like Leon’s one? Combined with sending out a T-Shirt (and/or a digital image by email) with a customised QR code that points at their caricature. They could either go with the default text that Leon has, or they could insert their own custom text.
Obviously you would need to charge a healthy commission fee for such a complex service. But I can see it appealing to a lot of people. And, by personalising it, that appeal would extend beyond just the comic fan-base. You could offer a cheaper-rate version for the same service, but just using a plain photograph, without the caricature. In which case you could hire a minion to run the service, rather than taking up your artistic time.
With a proper advertising budget, you could capture a wide market. It would only appeal to tech-savvy folks, of course. So it is still a niche market. But a bigger one than our web-comic community, none the less. And you can use that advertising to draw attention to the other T-Shirts and merchandising you can offer too, such as the “Always expect Ninjas”. That way, even for individuals who back away from the commission price, you can still get returns, from other sales, to defray the advertising costs and make ongoing profit.
It would be worth considering designing a range of T-Shirts, coffee mugs and the like, including that concept. Figuring out the up-front costs for getting a range set up, but using a mass-market model to keep the unit costs down, rather than using the create per purchase model (except for the caricature project itself). And then pitch a Kick-Starter presentation, to raise the up-front costs. Using the QR code customisation as a reward for the top end investors. Plus the usual regular product incentives for lower-end investors.
That’s not a bad idea. I’ve toyed with the idea of doing commissions of some sort in the past. The thing that’s prevented me is time constraints. Even now I’m working on finishing up the next two pages, but I also have to finish the backgrounds on a nearly finished page, and I need to do something for a new vote incentive too, all by the end of this week.
Part of Bob Newhart’s stand up was 1-sided phone conversations. The fun is deciding what the person he’s talking to said. He makes you think.
Borderlands 2 loot:
No, girls definitely do that. They can’t help it, it’s instinctive. Even if they don’t care, they think it. It’s like how we’re brought up or something. No idea.
Oh for the love of…. AAAAGH!
A QR code in the middle… grumble grumble… of a comic… grumble grumble…
Now I gotta go get my phone.
…
…
TWO THUMBS? aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa……..
I fall for said bait. Every time. #nerdlife ?
:-D
I have ADHD and am short so I related to Sydney from the beginning. I now have a geeky brunette friend who’s 6’4″, so I can relate to her even more.
Weirdly enough I have just been dealing with a complaint to an online game, where their character generator is bugged and gave me an average (or higher than average) character, when I set it to the minimum size.
I am above average height myself, but if I am playing a female character I always set them to e the minimum height. Partly because it gives an advantage in PVP, through making a smaller target. But mainly because I just like the perspective.
It feels really depressing being stuck with the over-sized character. Due to the circumstances involved nothing can be done about that, as a delete and reroll would loose stuff that could not be replaced. But now I have other characters, and the difference is obvious, when switching from one to the other, it has put me off playing the character.
And the game, for that matter, as that was my main. I have to force myself to be sociable, if friends want to play it.
*flops flat on the ground, puts paws over eyes, ears drooping*
So doing a re-read, because sometimes going through favourites is nice. I just had this realisation relating to Leon and Sydney’s relative heights: it IS about accurate.
I’m 6’4″. My girlfriend is 5’1″, the height difference in the comic is close enough to not call out unless someone took a ruler to the page, as that looks about the same as the height difference between me and her. I need to bend down and she needs to be on her toes for us to kiss.
Not sure if this bit of advice is useful on a comic 3 years old, but yeah. If you’re drawing them together, the scale is about right. Humans have a surprisingly large body diversity…
Although not as diverse as us.
I am sure it is useful confirmation, for Dave, as Sydney and Leon are bound to be seen together again sometime.
Heh. I see you take after your name.
Huh. I got a Tympole off of Leon’s shirt in Ultra Sun.
To this day*, Firefox STILL flags “webcomic” as a typo. When are they ever going to update their dictionary?
*August, 2019
I am impressed with your understanding of what a Newhart Phonecall is.
Well it took me multiple times reading this comment and I just realized the QR Code works. And gets a kind of cool message.