Sunday, December 02, 2007

The State of Comics

I must confess: growing up I was not a reader. Not a reader in the traditional sense, in that I didn't often choose books to read once I got into junior high. Maybe even before that. Something made me lose interest in books (although I did get into Roald Dahl and Ray Bradbury in high school), but I always religiously read the funnies. And not just on Sundays. I bought the books: Fox Trot, Calvin and Hobbes, Far Side. So even if I didn't read tons of books, I was always reading. I still read the comics on Sundays, but I am a bit confused by some of them. What's the deal with Non Sequitur? Is it supposed to be funny? Artsy? Clever? I don't get it. And they always get rid of classic ones that are still sometimes funny to bring in these new fangled, non funny comics. Is anyone out there a fan of Non Sequitur? Can you please explain why?

Now if you want to know what really makes me laugh, just watch National Lampoon's European Vacation. I have that movie memorized. I don't know why I love it so much, but I do. I have loved it since junior high, when I even used one of the movie's scenes-- where the family is arguing on a train car, and Rusty is singing the song "Is it you? Is it you?"- for a skit in Spanish class. The movie was on TV the other night, and it was still just as funny. I love the scene where they're shopping in Rome. "New looks screaming down the street for your attention..." Matt and I watched the movie on an airplane on the way to England, which was hysterical. Um, I swear I already wrote about this in the blog, but I'll pretend it's new info. I'm not all that entertaining on Sunday nights. The back to work blues.

2 comments:

Kaleb Nation said...

I was a big reader until I became a teenager, then I got so caught up in writing my book I hardly read anything for years! But I was able to stop and enjoy the Lemony Snicket books, some Lloyd Alexander and Artemis Fowl. I really only read YA books :)

Julie H said...

I only read YA, too! Every two years or so I will read an adult book, and that's only if it's about something I'm really interested in. My last two: Devil in the White City (I'm a HUGE World's Columbian Exposition fan, with a small collection of artifacts and some tours of the site under my belt-- and not because of that book), and Water for Elephants (because I am also a huge fan of the circus genre. I liked the book, although I didn't LOVE it. I have read so many circus stories that it would have to have been really unique to truly wow me). I didn't mean for this comment to be a book review, but there ya go.