I caught the allusion as well! “The Boxer” is easily my favorite S&G song and one of my top ten songs guaranteed to make me cry. Like Death Cab for Cutie’s “Follow You Into the Dark” or Sarah Maclaughlin’s “Hold On”.
Songs that make you cry is a highly subjective category. None of those would have done it for me. This one, however, does have deep personal meaning to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4rXbSnk2ng
It has a long intro. the actual song doesn’t being until about 40 seconds into it.
I don’t think she has fully processed his reveal yet, she is too busy thinking that she wants to keep him alive and make sure he knows she is not insane.
That look in the last panel say to me that she thinks it’s over between them. She’s helping him because she cares, not because she thinks it will keep them together.
What I said stands. Just because she wants him to live and know she is not crazy has nothing to do with the relationship, it is a mater of her own sense of self worth that he knows the truth about her sanity. She is a guardian, she has said so herself. A guardian would not leave an innocent to die if it can be helped, especially when the injury is by their own hands.
I think that you and Boxilar are both correct. Your statements are not really in conflict.
Shelly seems to be acting here for a good reason… she’s taking care of someone (who she happens to care a great deal about). She doesn’t seem to be running a “You WILL love me, and I will NOT allow you to leave me” number on him. Her motive seems to be un-selfish, and that’s important.
But, I agree with Boxilar… I think the implications of what Justin said about the paranormal have gotten through to Shelly. Her expression in the last frame shows this.
They have each been concealing from the other a big truth about themselves. This had created a barrier between them… as Tina pointed out, they were being sexual and passionate, but not really intimate. Now, the truths are out on the table… Shelly knows that she wasn’t the only one with a secret… and I think she sees that Justin’s secret past could be a bigger barrier between them than the one they just crossed. Just disclosing her truth may not be enough to heal their relationship.
I don’t know what you’re talking about when you refer to “that last line”, bmonk. I’m not into doing coke, with or without rum, and I don’t smoke bud, plasma soul!
Maybe I can pay with Jin instead of vodka or Brandi?
The question is — “What do you get if you multiply six by nine?” — the fact that the answer is 42 instead of the expected 54 should tell you something about the nature of the universe.
They’re still going to have to come up with a really good story for when the doctor sees his chest. I don’t know if “The cat scratched me” is going to cover it.
Great-grandma’s “decorative” pitchfork fell off the kitchen wall while we were trying to get the apple peeler to hang straight. He was lucky it only grazed him; he could’a’ been shishkabobbed!
The first step to a proper treatment is a proper diagnosis. He has pftheezles: a chronic condition of superpositioned diseases and wounds which, left unattended, are simultaneously deadly and nonexistant. However, upon diagnosis, one or the other becomes observed and therefore “real”, while the other does not. Justin may indeed have the mumps once a doctor sees him; but if he does, he won’t have gouges in his chest.
Huzzah cartoon quantum physics.
“…but if you teazle a sneezle or measle, pftheezles may even ensue!”–A.A. Milne
The fact that it’s the middle of winter, rules out several fairly plausible explanations which might have been used during farming season.
“I was working out at the cooperative farm, and there was an accident with a run-away combine harvester” (or “grain thresher” or something like that). “I barely got away with my life. It was a truly harrowing experience.”
“I see you’ve noticed the ears. My friend here is obviously Chinese….and when he was young, he got his head caught in an, uh, automated rice rice picker…..”
Just a blur and a gust of wind. Nice and easy to rationalize. You think you saw something, you blink and rub your eyes, and it’s already gone. By the time you get home, you’ve forgotten the whole thing.
It is the human minds defense mechanism at work. The brain will sort out all incoming information and make its assessment based on what it sees as not impossible. Just ask an investigator what they think of eyewitness accounts after strange events. Every person will have a slightly (and sometimes not so slightly) different story about the same event.
Impressive perceptual-psychology experiment recently: people were asked to carefully count the number of shots and goals in a basketball game, as they watched. They did pretty well at the counting, I believe… but at least half of them did not notice the guy in the gorilla suit walk along the side of the court, right in their plain view.
Only one. “We’re going to score more points than they are!”
😉
As you can probably tell, I don’t watch sports much. I don’t even remember which teams competed in the SuperBowl this year, or how many runs they scored.
There’s a variation where one of the black team players leave when the gorrilla shows up. This is for the folks who are primed already to see the gorilla. Most folks miss it. I did.
Shelly’s rolling along at a good clip. Eagles normaly soar but can really book it when they want to. Assuming similar wing structure, (and some artistic license) She’s probably some where in the nieghborhood of 100kph. (around 60mph for us ignorant colonials.)
Water is a good radar reflector, and assuming normal mammalian biology, Shelly is mostly water. As is Justin. She probably reads as a small single engine fixed wing aircraft or helicopter on radar. On the up side, if she were low enough, and I believe she is, she won’t show up on traffic control radar.
Shelly could just appear like a drone, there are already some in the use of the Police and you can get some at wallmart. Althought a drone as big as shelly would have to be a DIY version.
If she is going fast enough to appear as a wind swept flurry of snow to those people, Newton is going to have a few words with Justin’s internal organs if she tries an emergency stop.
She wants him to keep breathing and not get harmed by the winds and her high speed. They are in Minneapolis, last time I checked they get some high winds and they tend to be less violent at ground levels.
Right, so she flys so fast she creates one hell of a wind-chill factor. I doubt that’s none too warm either. He may have frostbitten toes by the time she gets there. But this is cartoon land wherein that, somehow, all works out.
It’s kind of a running joke. I have such light skin and light, nearly white hair that people have made remarks about me being a ghost or walking corpse. We have fun with it.
If she flies this low, she’s just a blur in people’s vision. If she flies higher, then she’s a blip on a lot of people’s radar (that is meant quite literally).
“I never saw a Shelly Sphinx,
I’d really like to see one.
But I can say, right here and now,
I’d rather be than see one.”
(appolgies to Ogden Nash) (c8
Yup. He went from denying the very possibility of the supernatural, to admitting that he must have had quite a lot of experience with it (and doesn’t want more), with just one sentence.
I think he’s known for awhile now. It explains his lack of reaction to her fangs here, http://wapsisquare.com/comic/likin-this/
The fangs are obvious to us and from the raised eyebrows, I pretty sure he sees them, too. I think as long as Shelly was pretending to be normal and wasn’t trying to ‘pull him back in’, he was willing to play along. When, from his perspective, she went psyco, he decided to get out.
No idea about Mucho Mocha, but all evidence points to OTB being pretty observant now. I’m sure he’s noticed Bud’s fangs, and considering the calls he’s answered at her house, he probably chalks her up as a supernatural doing a really lousy job of covering up for herself. Which means he has Bud pegged as crazy, too.
Apparently the crazy chicks who he was the crazy chick magnet for were paranormals. Or at least a couple were.
His look of resignation in yesterday’s first panel almost suggests they all were. Though we don’t know that for certain.
What seems certain is that he equates a paranormal girl with being a mentally unsound person, but accepts the supernatural as otherwise real. Unlike the people at the bus stop, he sees the sphinx, but unlike the rest of the main cast, he doesn’t assume she’s sane.
It explains the “People don’t do that, sane people can’t do that ,” comment. http://wapsisquare.com/comic/an-accident/
Justin had figured out Shelly was supernatural at some point, but since she was just trying to fit in, she was ‘sane’. When she blew up the heavy bag and slashed him, she dropped the masquerade, however unintentionaly, which meant she was about to drag him kicking and screaming back into a world he no longer wants to be a part of. That’s why he was so harsh with her even though he believed her. He was trying to push her away.
Yup. I think you’re right about that. Also, Supernaturals not fitting in to society as a whole seem to fit into his ‘crazy’ category, though I may be reaching there. Note that Shelly wasn’t crazy untill she displayed her otherness very obviously.
Which is counter intuitive if you think about it. When a creature acts against its basic nature, isn’t that the definition of insane?
The modern definition of “insane” is based on the three D’s. Distress, deviance, and dysfunction, and doesn’t really have anything to do with “acting against basic nature.” I really only brought this up because I have an abnormal psychology textbook in front of me.
Wouldn’t “acting against your basic nature” fall under deviance? Of course, current psychology is handicapped in that it only looks at humans, so our understanding of a person’s nature is rather limited, compared to a world of sphixes, golems, demons, and who knows what other wonders of nature?
Well thinking and saying “crazy chick” would keep him from accidentally saying “paranormal chick” to someone and him getting the ‘Crazy look’ from them.
Given the fact that Tepoz has been known for walking around in public without any disguise whatsoever (all 1 foot tall blue-skinned Aztec outfitted) I could see this viewpoint being acceptable.
“People see what they want to see” is a tricky gambit in genre writing, because it removes a host of dangers from the characters that would otherwise be assumed. Also, it’s a new wrinkle, almost a retcon: When Bud poited unwittingly in front of Amanda for the first time, Bud almost panicked. Tepoz freaked when Katherine walked in instead of Monica. But a giant winged lion with a woman’s face, clutching a bleeding man? Is ignoring that herd consensus for ‘at least it’s not me’?
I mean, Justin “Roped Back In” TightBuns has expressed concern.
Also, ancient Egyptians, Babylonians and Greeks must have really wanted to see those sphinxes in their midst, what with all the statuary and paintings.
There are way too many displays of the fantasy genre (and gaming hours spent) out in American society to not make a host of people at least wonder, “They’re doing 3D ads now? Didn’t think Percy Jackson was all that hot.”
I get that Shelly is making a point to Justin with her last line, but this open move of hers, based on what has gone before, has to entail some risk.
Some of you are overlooking the obvious… The people at the bus stop are cold and it’s snowing / sleeting. 99.99% would be looking down, or looking for the bus. Very few people ever look up, especially into precipitation. So All Shellynx has to do is stay about 20-30 feet up, and she’s invisible.
The snowstorm obscuring her makes the most sense, yes. Human psychology seems to have entered into the conversation though.
Justin isn’t wrong to be concerned, in panel one. Unfortunately, this may tie into his shaming response towards his exes. ‘How dare you go around like that in public’ kind of thing.
Though I still see a wee fang there, Mr. Commitment.
I don’t think this is hard line, Discworld level people see what they want to see. Just if you leave people a way to ignore or rationalize things that aren’t a part of the world they think they live in, they will gladly take it. Shelly is just a barely visible blur and a gust of wind from the perspective of the people at the bus stop. That’s easily dismissed as something you imagined because you were tired. A sphinx walking down the street on a clear day wouldn’t get ignored.
I have, from time to time, been accused (by both of my wives, among others) of sounding like Precious Pupp/Muttley when i laugh after perpetrating a hideous pun or the like.
Aubry could open a branch office in the Twin Cities! She could charge extra because the girls are “In Costume” and using “Real Time, Custom Computer SFX”.
This could also explain certain semi-imaginary, pot-wearing plushies that show up from time to time.
I am rather curious as to why, then again I did just suggest that Dave pay for his pun with spirits. Screw it. I don’t have anything thematically appropriate to pay the pun jar with. -tosses in a handful of spare change-
That reminds me of the “hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy” an the OPP (Others People’s Problem) Invisible Field.
If it’s cloaked as the problem of someone else, then nobody will ever see it.
So what exactly is she going to do when they get to the Hospital? Did her clothing change with her this time (not that she was wearing much to begin with)?
I thought that she might have learned a trick from Phix about shape changing and clothes hiding, but I am beginning to think that this will be a Shelly grabbing something from a clothes line as she comes in for a landing.
“Can I have my hat back?”
“THE WIND decided that I should have it.”
“…Never mind.”
“Sorry, guy. I don’t particularly want your hat. But, y’know. THE WIND.”
“Yeah, you don’t wanna cross… THE WIND.”
“Yeah.”
“It has earflaps tucked inside.”
“Thanks. Maybe I’ll touch it later.”
“After THE WIND… moves on. Smart.”
“Look, I’ve got twenty bucks, let me pay you for–”
“No no no. Some things are best decided… by THE WIND.”
I just noticed your avatar shows an example of how Paul draws the back teeth with the upper lip covering the rest of the upper teeth. We know Jin has pointed teeth, but this particular drawing does not show them, yet reveals the back teeth, just like Justin in this comic. This lends credence to the supposition that the comic does not show Justin with pointed teeth, but rather his back teeth.
Original comic here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/anything-else/
You say that once knew for sure
But now you’re walkin’ in the shore to wonder
The more you learn the less you know
The more you move, the more you go to nowhere
You ask a bird as she flies by
just where she’s at
and she says “Where the wind blows”
Ask her by that what she means
She says she doesn’t know
but as she flew away she seemed to say
The wind is love
Love is the wind
Wind is my love
Who knows the wind?
Who knows my love?
Where blows the wind?
The wind is my love
“Wind”, written by Bob Bruno, sung by Jerry Jeff Walker, performed by Circus Maximus.
The lyrics available on-line for this song are both incomplete and wrong… need to do a better transcription of the whole thing.
The wind is a wondeful thing. Without it, the air around us would putrify and the oceans become little more than stagnant ponds. Of course, there is always too much of a good thing on occasion. As long as the earth turns and the sun remains, there will always be wind.
Technically, by the rules of The Game, your choice whether to play or not does not affect your participation in The Game. Pretty much like the Game of Life.
On the other hand, the latter does have an opt-out, and thanks to XKCD, so has the former.
Still, even while I technically was “playing”, I was winning The Game for very long periods :p
I follow the Law of Kirk: screw winning, it means I’m playing by someone else’s rules. I’m gonna redefine the board and you must now king my rook before I knock three of your checkers into the hippo.
For the most part, I like Wapsi Square. I understand this is a “supernatural slice of life,” but lately, I think it’s gone too far down that road. I miss the good ole “innocent” days of Daryl, the bar and “The Fermented Banana,” among other things.
I also miss seeing just plain old humans in the mix as something more than just background characters and straight-men for the main characters.
What irks me most is the decision to turn Shelly into a Sphinx. Shelly as a Comanche, great. Shelly as the strongest woman in Minnesota, fine. Shelly as the girl with her grandmother’s collection of “magic dolls” I can accept, too. But transforming Shelly into just another magical creature — especially a Sphinx — is going a step too far. We already have Phix for that. Monica needs at least one human “best friend,” and until now, Shelly was it.
I also miss Heather, the lesbian radio station person. I kept she and Shelly would hook up, or at least be friends. That would have been an interesting relationship. But apparently it is not to be. (sigh) Oh well, c’est la vie…
“Underneath my skin lives an eagle
Underneath these clouds there’s an ego
..
I don’t wanna be that city boy,
Stumbling down the streets again
I don’t wanna be that city boy,
Running timeless streets, my friend
..
You’re moving around and heavenly you move in town
I don’t wanna be that city boy”
– “City Boy” by Donkeyboys
… and disregard the rest…
Thus the world remains blissfully ignorant.
That is how “The SILENCE” was able to stay here for Centuries.
Quite true.
Did you ever get those Jammy Dodgers you asked for?
Nice S&G reference. 😀
For those not in the know, Simon and Garfunkel, “The Boxer”. Probably my favorite of their songs…
They took that out of the music rotation at my radio station and I miss it.
I caught the allusion as well! “The Boxer” is easily my favorite S&G song and one of my top ten songs guaranteed to make me cry. Like Death Cab for Cutie’s “Follow You Into the Dark” or Sarah Maclaughlin’s “Hold On”.
Songs that make you cry is a highly subjective category. None of those would have done it for me. This one, however, does have deep personal meaning to me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4rXbSnk2ng
It has a long intro. the actual song doesn’t being until about 40 seconds into it.
I don’t see it.
Very true. I wouldn’t have seen it if I didn’t believe it.
LOL.
It was a standing ‘joke’ for golden age sitcoms (golden age= before ‘PC’).
guy 1: “If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
guy 2: “Are you kidding? I saw it and I STILL don’t believe it!”
AAAAhahahaha the hat landed on the other guy’s head!
I LOVE finding out about the details I missed on first pass through the comments. Thank You. ^_^
This is why I say to people, “I’ve seen too much.”
Sage of the Time Forest is taking Justin’s big reveal in stride.
I don’t think she has fully processed his reveal yet, she is too busy thinking that she wants to keep him alive and make sure he knows she is not insane.
That look in the last panel say to me that she thinks it’s over between them. She’s helping him because she cares, not because she thinks it will keep them together.
Owie.
I have to wonder whether her unspoken sub-text is something along the lines of
“… and neither of us really saw the other, did we?”
What I said stands. Just because she wants him to live and know she is not crazy has nothing to do with the relationship, it is a mater of her own sense of self worth that he knows the truth about her sanity. She is a guardian, she has said so herself. A guardian would not leave an innocent to die if it can be helped, especially when the injury is by their own hands.
I think that you and Boxilar are both correct. Your statements are not really in conflict.
Shelly seems to be acting here for a good reason… she’s taking care of someone (who she happens to care a great deal about). She doesn’t seem to be running a “You WILL love me, and I will NOT allow you to leave me” number on him. Her motive seems to be un-selfish, and that’s important.
But, I agree with Boxilar… I think the implications of what Justin said about the paranormal have gotten through to Shelly. Her expression in the last frame shows this.
They have each been concealing from the other a big truth about themselves. This had created a barrier between them… as Tina pointed out, they were being sexual and passionate, but not really intimate. Now, the truths are out on the table… Shelly knows that she wasn’t the only one with a secret… and I think she sees that Justin’s secret past could be a bigger barrier between them than the one they just crossed. Just disclosing her truth may not be enough to heal their relationship.
Shellia, The Sage of the Time Forest, always takes things in stride.
*deposits 999 rupees in the pun jar*
Red, green, or blue rupees?
Plaid
Collected in all colors; the bag has a rainbow one on it.
I always think of rupees as red. I guess because the word is so close to rubies.
The judges give this fly-through of the Precision Hat Shift Maneuver an 8.5.
In her next pass, Shelly will attempt to have the hat perform a full Triple Axel while returning to its owner’s head.
The *Braid back over the left shoulder* move was well-executed. It’s a tricky one, too.
It could have been a much higher score. But the Russian judge deducted 1 pt for not nailing the hat landing.
The Russian judge was just pissed that she is not Russian.
If she isn’t, then why is she flying so fast?
I think this is one of those times where you put some vodka in the pun jar.
Well, There’s Your Problem…
You were suppose to put it in the Judges Jar, if you wanted a better score.
She actually put tea in the judge jar. That would probably explain the perfect score from the British judge.
I’m sorry, I cannot put vodka in the Pun Jar, as I don’t have any round the house at the moment.
Would it be OK to put Brandi in the Pun Jar instead? She is quite used to sleeping within enclosed spaces made out of clay…
Payment rules are so confusing and hazy… I wonder if they will ever clear?
Dave: Hey, bud! I think you owe something for that last line! You took a shot, and you’d better not wine that you got caught.
[pleads the fifth, then drops it in]
I don’t know what you’re talking about when you refer to “that last line”, bmonk. I’m not into doing coke, with or without rum, and I don’t smoke bud, plasma soul!
Maybe I can pay with Jin instead of vodka or Brandi?
Dave, it was the “. . .ever clear” reference.
‘Round these parts, Everclear (190 proof alcohol) is the active ingredient in Red Eye.
Oh, I know… that’s why I put it in… I’m just funnin’ ya!
Well if nothing else, Shelly could use the Everclear as a combination engine degreaser/mind eraser.
Ever clear, also known as brain bleach, and death water. Great stuff in moderation, if you like moderation.
I wanted answers not deep spiritual lessons.
42.
Oh, that’s just your answer to life, the universe and everything, isn’t it?
Ummm – what was the question again?
Clearly spending too much time on reddit, as I spent half a second trying to figure out how to upvote everyone in this thread…
donoho here ya go!
The question is — “What do you get if you multiply six by nine?” — the fact that the answer is 42 instead of the expected 54 should tell you something about the nature of the universe.
That actually does explain Quantum Physics.
They’re still going to have to come up with a really good story for when the doctor sees his chest. I don’t know if “The cat scratched me” is going to cover it.
Great-grandma’s “decorative” pitchfork fell off the kitchen wall while we were trying to get the apple peeler to hang straight. He was lucky it only grazed him; he could’a’ been shishkabobbed!
True story.
What scares me is that I saw something like that at a grand uncles home once many moons ago.
“Let me see that chest, young man. Egad! You have the mumps.”
“I have the wha–?! Doctor, these are deep gouges!”
“I see what I want to see! How the world works, my boy.”
The first step to a proper treatment is a proper diagnosis. He has pftheezles: a chronic condition of superpositioned diseases and wounds which, left unattended, are simultaneously deadly and nonexistant. However, upon diagnosis, one or the other becomes observed and therefore “real”, while the other does not. Justin may indeed have the mumps once a doctor sees him; but if he does, he won’t have gouges in his chest.
Huzzah cartoon quantum physics.
“…but if you teazle a sneezle or measle, pftheezles may even ensue!”–A.A. Milne
She was cleaning her fingernails and they went off.
hey thats better, you undead zombie… 🙂 🙂
It’s going to take me awhile to adjust to your new avatar, but I like it. Where is it from?
I don’t recall just where I got it, but, using Tineye.com, I found a copy of the original image, which I modified, changing the gender to suit my purpose.
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/5985/zombie2ey1.jpg
Cool!
They could tell the doctor that he fell through a plate glass window. At least the shards are sharp enough to mimic Shelly’s talons.
It’s clearly a bad case of Diseasemaker’s Croup.
Possibly preferable to Cooper’s Droop!
Hey they can just say that they have a big cat (say a cougar) as pet. I many places this is legal to some extend.
Of course, explaining that this cat weighs well over 2000 pounds might be harder to get across.
“I was demonstrating this replica martial arts “claw” from the movie “Enter the Dragon” and got a little careless.”
The fact that it’s the middle of winter, rules out several fairly plausible explanations which might have been used during farming season.
“I was working out at the cooperative farm, and there was an accident with a run-away combine harvester” (or “grain thresher” or something like that). “I barely got away with my life. It was a truly harrowing experience.”
[rattle Pun Jar menacingly] I C wut U did thar…
Drops in a gold coin showing Alexander the Great on the front, and Nike (holding a wreath) on the back,
You just paid the pun jar in “coin of the realm”. You get a gold star.
“I see you’ve noticed the ears. My friend here is obviously Chinese….and when he was young, he got his head caught in an, uh, automated rice rice picker…..”
Not fair! You posted that before I did! 🙂
Oohh.. I lóve how Pblo drew the little people at the bus-stop.
Mr. Taylor is a good observer ( and LOL at the hat)
Just a blur and a gust of wind. Nice and easy to rationalize. You think you saw something, you blink and rub your eyes, and it’s already gone. By the time you get home, you’ve forgotten the whole thing.
It is the human minds defense mechanism at work. The brain will sort out all incoming information and make its assessment based on what it sees as not impossible. Just ask an investigator what they think of eyewitness accounts after strange events. Every person will have a slightly (and sometimes not so slightly) different story about the same event.
Impressive perceptual-psychology experiment recently: people were asked to carefully count the number of shots and goals in a basketball game, as they watched. They did pretty well at the counting, I believe… but at least half of them did not notice the guy in the gorilla suit walk along the side of the court, right in their plain view.
…So how many goals does it take to win a basketball game, anyway? 😉
Only one. “We’re going to score more points than they are!”
😉
As you can probably tell, I don’t watch sports much. I don’t even remember which teams competed in the SuperBowl this year, or how many runs they scored.
Good thing, that–if you could remember the future you’d never get a cliffhanger on Fridays. 😉
I believe in basketball, they refer to a basket made from a long distance as a “field goal.” I’m not sure that’s official or just some player slang.
@So Why Me: You’re pretty much right. In basketball, a field goal is any basket scored from the field, rather than from the free throw line.
It depends on how many free throws were made, and how many field goals were three or two points. . . .
Clearly, I have not paid enough attention to basketball.
I’ve had two professors show me that experiment. It’s rather amusing, although I must admit that I saw the gorilla.
There’s a variation where one of the black team players leave when the gorrilla shows up. This is for the folks who are primed already to see the gorilla. Most folks miss it. I did.
Selective Attention Test here.
Count the times the ball is passed.
I’ll just drop this offhere.
Shelly’s rolling along at a good clip. Eagles normaly soar but can really book it when they want to. Assuming similar wing structure, (and some artistic license) She’s probably some where in the nieghborhood of 100kph. (around 60mph for us ignorant colonials.)
Justin should take her pilot’s license away for speeding.
I think the proper citation would be from the FAA. Flying too low over a metropolitan area.
Hey, if they are gonna cite Shelly, they need to hand out fines to all the pigeons and other birds flying in cities!
Nah – pigeons and other birds get a waiver under the ultralight aircraft rules.
It probably won’t be for speeding. If X-Plane 8 is anything to go by, the speed limit below 10,000 ft is 250 knots (Wiki page for conversion rates).
I wonder how ‘stealthy’ a sphinx is against radar?
With her lack of solid radar-reflecting flat-angle surfaces, she may appear as a sparrow. Or, you know, an airforce F22.
(Which reminds me, they were doing low flybys over my house again last week; did another airliner go off course or something?)
Maybe they just wanted to see if you or anyone else at your house was sunbathing. 😉
It was 2 degrees out! o.0
Never stopped Bud or Brandi.
Water is a good radar reflector, and assuming normal mammalian biology, Shelly is mostly water. As is Justin. She probably reads as a small single engine fixed wing aircraft or helicopter on radar. On the up side, if she were low enough, and I believe she is, she won’t show up on traffic control radar.
Shelly could just appear like a drone, there are already some in the use of the Police and you can get some at wallmart. Althought a drone as big as shelly would have to be a DIY version.
That’s right, she flying “in the grass” and won’t show up on anyone’s radar.
If she is going fast enough to appear as a wind swept flurry of snow to those people, Newton is going to have a few words with Justin’s internal organs if she tries an emergency stop.
Truth is, in the winter in MPS (especially the snowstorm Paul has shown), an elephant could stroll down Central Avenue and no one would blink an eye.
But elephants are tropical creatures. Minneapolis, that’s mammoth country.
But have you seen an elephant fly?
Yeah, but it was a long, long time ago.
Does she really have to fly that low?
She wants him to keep breathing and not get harmed by the winds and her high speed. They are in Minneapolis, last time I checked they get some high winds and they tend to be less violent at ground levels.
Right, so she flys so fast she creates one hell of a wind-chill factor. I doubt that’s none too warm either. He may have frostbitten toes by the time she gets there. But this is cartoon land wherein that, somehow, all works out.
She is a sphinx. Where do real world physics come into play here???? Lolz
Well, he is snuggled into her fur.
Not to mention that her body temperature is probably rising as she’s exercising.
His feet aren’t.
SoWhyMe: tsk tsk. The pun jar now!
And she’s got a lot of…fur. He’s got every reason to be warm and comfy. It should be a memorable experience if he ever stops watching the ground.
Unrelated–
–who thought you were an undead zombie??
It’s kind of a running joke. I have such light skin and light, nearly white hair that people have made remarks about me being a ghost or walking corpse. We have fun with it.
My wife is as white as all of Finland. Most people are like, “Hey Casper, what’s up?” So I get where you’re coming from.
If she flies this low, she’s just a blur in people’s vision. If she flies higher, then she’s a blip on a lot of people’s radar (that is meant quite literally).
SEP fields are unfortunately all too real.
I see what you did there.
Good job in remembering the name of the drive.
SEP ain’t got nothin’ on the IID – and 42!
Hell, I’d want to see her. Lucky bastard. He’s got a giant flying super girlfriend, with wings! Who wouldn’t want her?
Personally, I’d rather BE the giant flying super creature.
“I never saw a Shelly Sphinx,
I’d really like to see one.
But I can say, right here and now,
I’d rather be than see one.”
(appolgies to Ogden Nash) (c8
Maybe that’s why there are no purple cows in the Wapsiverse?
I… am still somewhat confused as to how/why he’s taking this part so well and what his big reveal was (assuming it was the “again” part?)
Yup. He went from denying the very possibility of the supernatural, to admitting that he must have had quite a lot of experience with it (and doesn’t want more), with just one sentence.
I think he’s known for awhile now. It explains his lack of reaction to her fangs here,
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/likin-this/
The fangs are obvious to us and from the raised eyebrows, I pretty sure he sees them, too. I think as long as Shelly was pretending to be normal and wasn’t trying to ‘pull him back in’, he was willing to play along. When, from his perspective, she went psyco, he decided to get out.
I wonder if he noticed Bud’s teeth as well?
or if he has been to Tina’s coffee ship?
No idea about Mucho Mocha, but all evidence points to OTB being pretty observant now. I’m sure he’s noticed Bud’s fangs, and considering the calls he’s answered at her house, he probably chalks her up as a supernatural doing a really lousy job of covering up for herself. Which means he has Bud pegged as crazy, too.
Apparently the crazy chicks who he was the crazy chick magnet for were paranormals. Or at least a couple were.
His look of resignation in yesterday’s first panel almost suggests they all were. Though we don’t know that for certain.
What seems certain is that he equates a paranormal girl with being a mentally unsound person, but accepts the supernatural as otherwise real. Unlike the people at the bus stop, he sees the sphinx, but unlike the rest of the main cast, he doesn’t assume she’s sane.
It explains the “People don’t do that, sane people can’t do that ,” comment.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/an-accident/
Justin had figured out Shelly was supernatural at some point, but since she was just trying to fit in, she was ‘sane’. When she blew up the heavy bag and slashed him, she dropped the masquerade, however unintentionaly, which meant she was about to drag him kicking and screaming back into a world he no longer wants to be a part of. That’s why he was so harsh with her even though he believed her. He was trying to push her away.
Most likely he uses “crazy” as a euphemism for supernatural so that he can talk about his girlfriend troubles with people not “in the know.”
Yup. I think you’re right about that. Also, Supernaturals not fitting in to society as a whole seem to fit into his ‘crazy’ category, though I may be reaching there. Note that Shelly wasn’t crazy untill she displayed her otherness very obviously.
Which is counter intuitive if you think about it. When a creature acts against its basic nature, isn’t that the definition of insane?
The modern definition of “insane” is based on the three D’s. Distress, deviance, and dysfunction, and doesn’t really have anything to do with “acting against basic nature.” I really only brought this up because I have an abnormal psychology textbook in front of me.
Fair enough. I admit that my knowledge of psychology is… limited. Like, if it was in an episode of CSI or something. Yeah, I’ll hush now.
Wouldn’t “acting against your basic nature” fall under deviance? Of course, current psychology is handicapped in that it only looks at humans, so our understanding of a person’s nature is rather limited, compared to a world of sphixes, golems, demons, and who knows what other wonders of nature?
Well thinking and saying “crazy chick” would keep him from accidentally saying “paranormal chick” to someone and him getting the ‘Crazy look’ from them.
The Crazy begets more Crazy?
I am rather curious as to who he’s dated in the past. I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone out of Greek mythology.
Some body floated the idea that it might be Eyrale in the last couple of days. wouldn’t THAT be interesting.
I just had a crazy idea:
What if it was Tina? After all there have been a couple of strips where her sex life has been speculated on.
I believe Tina has stated that she (the collective) has never had sex.
My memory’s not exactly reliable but I believe she actually said something to the effect of:
“Now that’s an interesting idea but first you need a willing partner…”
I don’t think she said she didn’t but just hinted strongly she doesn’t currently.
Given the fact that Tepoz has been known for walking around in public without any disguise whatsoever (all 1 foot tall blue-skinned Aztec outfitted) I could see this viewpoint being acceptable.
“People see what they want to see” is a tricky gambit in genre writing, because it removes a host of dangers from the characters that would otherwise be assumed. Also, it’s a new wrinkle, almost a retcon: When Bud poited unwittingly in front of Amanda for the first time, Bud almost panicked. Tepoz freaked when Katherine walked in instead of Monica. But a giant winged lion with a woman’s face, clutching a bleeding man? Is ignoring that herd consensus for ‘at least it’s not me’?
I mean, Justin “Roped Back In” TightBuns has expressed concern.
Also, ancient Egyptians, Babylonians and Greeks must have really wanted to see those sphinxes in their midst, what with all the statuary and paintings.
There are way too many displays of the fantasy genre (and gaming hours spent) out in American society to not make a host of people at least wonder, “They’re doing 3D ads now? Didn’t think Percy Jackson was all that hot.”
I get that Shelly is making a point to Justin with her last line, but this open move of hers, based on what has gone before, has to entail some risk.
Some of you are overlooking the obvious… The people at the bus stop are cold and it’s snowing / sleeting. 99.99% would be looking down, or looking for the bus. Very few people ever look up, especially into precipitation. So All Shellynx has to do is stay about 20-30 feet up, and she’s invisible.
The snowstorm obscuring her makes the most sense, yes. Human psychology seems to have entered into the conversation though.
Justin isn’t wrong to be concerned, in panel one. Unfortunately, this may tie into his shaming response towards his exes. ‘How dare you go around like that in public’ kind of thing.
Though I still see a wee fang there, Mr. Commitment.
His pointy dentition makes complete sense, in context. It only shows when Shelly is hugging him to her sphinxly bosom.
(Theme music for the scene: Frank Sinatra singing “Thanks for the Memories”).
I don’t think this is hard line, Discworld level people see what they want to see. Just if you leave people a way to ignore or rationalize things that aren’t a part of the world they think they live in, they will gladly take it. Shelly is just a barely visible blur and a gust of wind from the perspective of the people at the bus stop. That’s easily dismissed as something you imagined because you were tired. A sphinx walking down the street on a clear day wouldn’t get ignored.
Looks as if Girls with Slingshots takes place in the Wapsiverse.
Dammit. Another comic to start reading. More hours lost to an archive crawl. Thanks a lot. *grumble grumble*
Evil Laugh
Before I clicked the link, I was expecting Palpatine or maybe Doctor Evil. But Muttley? The horror, the horror.
Precious Pupp, actually.
I have, from time to time, been accused (by both of my wives, among others) of sounding like Precious Pupp/Muttley when i laugh after perpetrating a hideous pun or the like.
One never knows with Danielle C.
But that means Something Positive…
Aubry could open a branch office in the Twin Cities! She could charge extra because the girls are “In Costume” and using “Real Time, Custom Computer SFX”.
This could also explain certain semi-imaginary, pot-wearing plushies that show up from time to time.
Never underestimate Girls with Slingshots. They come at you from your blind-spot.
Pun intended?
Ok, I believe I now owe my soul to the company pun jar… I’m going to bed… 😀
I am rather curious as to why, then again I did just suggest that Dave pay for his pun with spirits. Screw it. I don’t have anything thematically appropriate to pay the pun jar with. -tosses in a handful of spare change-
Reference: Here. I couldn’t find a better one.
Hahaha!! I love the hat flying off one guy and landing on another. Nice touch Paul. XD
Shelly has this nice “woman on a mission” vibe going on. It’s pretty epic!!
*wind gust picks up*
“All right, which one of you guys smell like a cat?”
Have you ever noticed how a healthy cat smells like dusty upholstery?
No…
Well, I haven’t noticed THAT; I I have noticed something else against “common cat legend” (CCL).
CCL cays don’t like to get wet (hate water). Well, don’t tell the great cats (tigers, lions, leopards, etc.). They’re partial to a ‘dip’.
In fact, put enough water in your tub so your cat can lie in it and you’d fit he/she will love doing so.
Cats love taking a bath… they just don’t like you ‘giving’ them a bath.
I’ve noticed my upholstery smells like my cats… and has their fur all over it. I really should do something about that.
“You never forget the first time you saw your cat… and you never get the fur off your couch.”
My cat smells more like toast.
Have you been using it in a cat and toast drive?
Wow i didn’t think Pablo would do this. Pretty good way of sorting things out.
“People see what they want to see…..” Why does she look so sad? (Sense of foreboding….)
Several layers to Shelly’s comment. Justin saw what he expected to see. Shelly also saw what she expected to see …
I do believe that you are spot on in that assessment.
So there ARE other people in this universe….
That reminds me of the “hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy” an the OPP (Others People’s Problem) Invisible Field.
If it’s cloaked as the problem of someone else, then nobody will ever see it.
SEP- Someone Else’s Problem
So what exactly is she going to do when they get to the Hospital? Did her clothing change with her this time (not that she was wearing much to begin with)?
I thought that she might have learned a trick from Phix about shape changing and clothes hiding, but I am beginning to think that this will be a Shelly grabbing something from a clothes line as she comes in for a landing.
“Can I have my hat back?”
“THE WIND decided that I should have it.”
“…Never mind.”
“Sorry, guy. I don’t particularly want your hat. But, y’know. THE WIND.”
“Yeah, you don’t wanna cross… THE WIND.”
“Yeah.”
“It has earflaps tucked inside.”
“Thanks. Maybe I’ll touch it later.”
“After THE WIND… moves on. Smart.”
“Look, I’ve got twenty bucks, let me pay you for–”
“No no no. Some things are best decided… by THE WIND.”
Besides, THE WIND has really big claws.
Yep,look out for 風.
Indeed. http://wapsisquare.com/comic/run-rabbit/
On behalf of all of us, I apologize for not catching that one.
I think Shelly has what it takes to get him over whatever his issues are surrounding the paranormal. He will love her at the end of all this.
…I hope. But then, I’m an eternal optimist.
I like this theory
I just noticed your avatar shows an example of how Paul draws the back teeth with the upper lip covering the rest of the upper teeth. We know Jin has pointed teeth, but this particular drawing does not show them, yet reveals the back teeth, just like Justin in this comic. This lends credence to the supposition that the comic does not show Justin with pointed teeth, but rather his back teeth.
Original comic here:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/anything-else/
You say that once knew for sure
But now you’re walkin’ in the shore to wonder
The more you learn the less you know
The more you move, the more you go to nowhere
You ask a bird as she flies by
just where she’s at
and she says “Where the wind blows”
Ask her by that what she means
She says she doesn’t know
but as she flew away she seemed to say
The wind is love
Love is the wind
Wind is my love
Who knows the wind?
Who knows my love?
Where blows the wind?
The wind is my love
“Wind”, written by Bob Bruno, sung by Jerry Jeff Walker, performed by Circus Maximus.
The lyrics available on-line for this song are both incomplete and wrong… need to do a better transcription of the whole thing.
The wind is a wondeful thing. Without it, the air around us would putrify and the oceans become little more than stagnant ponds. Of course, there is always too much of a good thing on occasion. As long as the earth turns and the sun remains, there will always be wind.
Not always true. For example, noone wants to see what I’m about to type, but you will see it if you look.
I just lost The Game. (And so did you!)
I have never lost The Game, nor am I losing it now. Know why? Because I’ve never played it. I have never chosen to play it, and so I can never lose.
Never win it, either, but my indifference on the matter is great enough to outmass entire galaxies.
Technically, by the rules of The Game, your choice whether to play or not does not affect your participation in The Game. Pretty much like the Game of Life.
On the other hand, the latter does have an opt-out, and thanks to XKCD, so has the former.
Still, even while I technically was “playing”, I was winning The Game for very long periods :p
I follow the Law of Kirk: screw winning, it means I’m playing by someone else’s rules. I’m gonna redefine the board and you must now king my rook before I knock three of your checkers into the hippo.
For the most part, I like Wapsi Square. I understand this is a “supernatural slice of life,” but lately, I think it’s gone too far down that road. I miss the good ole “innocent” days of Daryl, the bar and “The Fermented Banana,” among other things.
I also miss seeing just plain old humans in the mix as something more than just background characters and straight-men for the main characters.
What irks me most is the decision to turn Shelly into a Sphinx. Shelly as a Comanche, great. Shelly as the strongest woman in Minnesota, fine. Shelly as the girl with her grandmother’s collection of “magic dolls” I can accept, too. But transforming Shelly into just another magical creature — especially a Sphinx — is going a step too far. We already have Phix for that. Monica needs at least one human “best friend,” and until now, Shelly was it.
I also miss Heather, the lesbian radio station person. I kept she and Shelly would hook up, or at least be friends. That would have been an interesting relationship. But apparently it is not to be. (sigh) Oh well, c’est la vie…
This is where Shelly’s experiences lead, and even if Paul didn’t know where it was going when he began, it’s still where her story is meant to be.
Meet Shelly for the first time.
It’s the very first paranormal moment in the strip. And it came on a day when plain old humanity wasn’t looking so hot.
Of course we miss innocence. It’s what it does.
Good catch there.
(Lyrics shorted)
“Underneath my skin lives an eagle
Underneath these clouds there’s an ego
..
I don’t wanna be that city boy,
Stumbling down the streets again
I don’t wanna be that city boy,
Running timeless streets, my friend
..
You’re moving around and heavenly you move in town
I don’t wanna be that city boy”
– “City Boy” by Donkeyboys