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Saturday, December 01, 2007

Those damned Heroes

What's Mallard raving about today?

Heroes, Katie Couric, CBS News.

I've said it before, I'll say it again...Mallard watches too much TV.

And then he assumes we all have the exact same thoughts which run through his fevered imagination.

Which leads to stuff today's panel which makes no damn sense at all to me.

12 comments:

BillyWitchDoctor said...

I...I guess Tinny's straining to suggest that CBS (or CBS News) is utterly lacking in original thought, and resorts to ineptly imitating whatever's pop on NBC. I guess. I'm not about to put myself through the procedures (lobotomy, oxygen deprivation, blunt trauma) necessary to achieve and understand the Bruce Tinsley "thought process." (And I can't even say those last four words aloud without laughing so hard I rupture something.)

I guess he's mad that Katie's as big a flop as The 1/2-Hour News Show.

Why is Mallard holding an arrow pointing in the direction his "finger" should be pointing? Why is it even necessary for anything to point in that direction, anyway? Left-to-right is the NORMAL reading order in this country! Did you FORGET that, Tinny?

Also, as noted in the prior thread, it's "data doesn't," not "data don't." Remember, this is the guy who thinks everyone else is a total idiot. That's why he loves drawing a strip; when he writes something so phenomenally stupid, he can blame the fictional straw man who "said" it, the same way he blames his dog for the urine stains on the carpet and bed.

MToje said...

Actually, it is "data don't". It 's a plural word from Latin, the singular being "datum". Trust me, the last thing I would do is defend Tinsley, but I cannot see a beautiful language like Latin be misapplied.

Kaitlyn said...

Yes, Tinz is a stickler for them datums!

Again, DaveyK, you must add a "Too Much TV" tag!

And he's just wrong - I would even watch FOX News if they had superpowers.

Only if they used them on the air. None of that "secret identity" bull!

Colbert already has super powers.

GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

From the previews, I was under the impression that Phenomenon was some sort of half-assed "reality" show, whereas Heroes is a serial narrative. How in blue hell, then, can you call one a "clone" of the other?

Erich said...

Oh, "Phenomenon" is a show! I thought he was using the word in its general meaning, so I was more baffled than usual by the statement. Here's an instance where quotation marks would be appropriate...

GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

D'oh, looks like I misread it. What he clearly means is "the phenomenon of Heroes clones." My brain works in strange ways sometimes. Not as strange as Tinsley's, though.

BillyWitchDoctor said...

From The American Heritage Book of English Usage:

"The word data is the plural of Latin datum, 'something given,' but does that mean you should treat it as a plural noun in English? Not always. The plural usage is still common enough... Sometimes scientists think of data as plural... But more often scientists and researchers think of data as a singular mass entity like information, and most people now follow this in general usage. When plural, data has the unusual characteristic of not being capable of modification by cardinal numbers. You may have various data but you will never have five or ten data."

Okay, there's some question there. "Data don't" still sounds wrong in terms of everyday use, for the "singular mass entity" reason.

If you look at the strip, the spacing around "don't" is unusually large--as if Tinny initially used "doesn't," then changed his mind or was told to alter the lettering by an editor. (Tinny's more usual problem is cramming lettering into tight spaces.) So I retract my criticism on that issue.

However, the point of the pointless pointing stands. Hey idiots! Follow the red arrow!

Kaitlyn said...

So if it's not the show "Phenomenon" (isn't that on NBC?), then what would be a Heroes clone on CBS? NCIS? Cane? Survivor?

I watched CBS weekly - NCIS, hello - but I have no idea what he's talking about. As usual.

Kaitlyn said...

BillyWitchDoctor, you claim that we read from left-to-right in this country, but you are mistaken.

We all read Arabic now, the terrorists have won because we say Happy Holidays, and Arabic is read from right-to-left.

TROOF TO POWAR BROOOOCE!!!11!

Anonymous said...

What "Heroes" clones? Did Tinsley fall asleep during a marathon in a pool of bourbon and tears or something?

Anonymous said...

About the "Datum" thing. Tinsley is probably just trying to make himself look smart by knowing that "data" is plural. If memory serves, he's treated the word "media" as a plural before too.

Marion Delgado said...

billywitchdoctor:

Mallard Fillmore is now produced in China, Bruce Tinsley just has writing credit. Ironically, most of the actual artists now are imprisoned dissidents, earning a few cents a panel, which they mostly spend on unfiltered cigarettes. The new right-to-left standard saves money and speeds up delivery.