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Paranatural
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Yeah, late nite talk shows often talk about how they can say “ass” or “hole”, but if they combine them, it gets bleeped. “Cock” is another weird one they were making fun of the other night because of some school’s mascots: “fighting cocks” or something. Also why “$chitt’s Creek” always has to have the logo appear on screen when they say it. FCC rules are bizarre.
The hypocritical puritans really fucked up this country.
Oops. Flagged by mistake. When city people use country expressions, they always get them wrong. It isn’t “shit’s creek,” regardless of the spelling. It’s “shit crick.”
The earliest extant reference to the phrase appeared in the transcript of the 1868 Annual report of the US Secretary of War, in a section that included reports from districts of South Carolina:
Schitt’s Creek was originally produced and broadcast in Canada. In the US, it was only ever available via cable or streaming on Netflix. Since it was never broadcast over the air, the FCC had nothing to do with it. I could probably spend hours discussing the stupid crap the FCC actually has done (artificially limiting broadcasting licenses, the Fairness Doctrine, delaying cellular phone service for decades), but you can’t blame them for this one.
Eh, “damn” is considered fairly mild, but I suspect many would object to “goddamn” on the basis that it’s blasphemous. OTOH, I find the idea of people insulting each other as “***holes” hilarious, and I’d love to see it.
the mexican dub of drawn together was censored but in a way you could notice what the word censored was, so either it was malicious compliance or they thought the bleeps made the show funnier
I watching some of the original, hour-long episodes of Cheap Seats and some of the words they censored were ludicrous. Even more so, given that the Sklars’ subsequent dialog almost always gave away what word got bleeped.
One particular example was during (I think) the Mr. Universe episode where they were cracking on some guy’s backne. “That guy’s got a back *bleep* – a ‘bipple!‘”
Always have a towel at the ready. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you — daft as a brush, but very very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost.” What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
So be a hoopy frood and know where your towel is at all time!
She should stick it in her underwear. A pad is going to do precious little to shut up the sympathy brigade, and will do nothing for her period if put elsewhere.
I don’t see why should she? Sarah may be being unhelpful, but both Dorothy and Becky are honestly trying to help in a situation where she’s not even helping herself.
This is true…. but it also does smack a lot of period hormones and an outburst that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I have to wonder if her response would be different if she wasnt actively bleeding out her body weight
See it from her perspective: You’re in pain. Three of your closest friends are being real noisy when you just want to be alone in quiet. They keep talking to you like you’re a child. They keep arguing amongst themselves and to you about how you need to act, just making more chaotic noise after noise and wont listen to you. I’d snap back too.
He’s said that he can’t. He said he just about maxed out the customizability as is. It’s fine, he’s said he doesn’t get any notification at all unless it hits a threshold that he’s adjusted. It’s not nearly as much of a problem as people who are accidentally clicking consistently think it is.
To be fair to them accidentally killing comments with reports was a problem, for the first few hours the feature was up.
Now it takes flags from something like 10 different users before a comment is disappeared into the moderation queue. Accidental reports look scarier than they actually are.
Maybe reduce the threatening sound of the report page then?
Like: “Thank you for flagging the comment. It has (or hasn’t yet) been nuked. But if multiple different users all flag it in a [secret algorithm], then it will be seriously considered.”
There is no good reason, Dorothy and Becky didn’t even want to bring the pill up as an option yesterday but now that Jennifer has helped Joyce it’s like their trying to reaffirm their territory as Joyce’s two best friends. Definatly comes off as possessive even if well meaning.
Maybe, maybe not, either way, there’s no real reason to gang up on her into going right this instant like she’s on a tight deadline. She needs some breathing room to come to decisions herself.
FR though, Joyce DOES need to get her meds or she’s gonna be in a lot more pain then she needs to be. They are right. However, I can definitely see why Joyce just isn’t in the mood for this. *I* can barely muster a giveafuck when I’m in that kinda pain or for about a week after too.
The no-flow BC shot. For most women it works several months per shot, and they have a warning period before ovulation so they know they’re fertile. I think it was Depo-Provera or summit like that.
That would entirely defeat any desire to avoid her being seen as getting them for sexual reasons. I get the desire for them to make more dramatic decisions, but I can’t see how she actually gets there on that one.
Granted it would be weird in this specific context. But Joe’s definitely established as someone who treats Joyce like more of an adult, and doesn’t come at her with overbearing concern or condescension. He snipes at her, yeah, but in a much more human way than these three. Even if they’re technically more polite, Joe’s the one treating her like a fellow human.
I think that’s a bit harsh, but yeah, Joe’s less patronizing, sure, that much is true. Joe and Joyce have I think an innate understanding of where the other one is coming from in terms of guilt, just for very different reasons, obviously, and that lets them meet in the middle more.
I was hoping she’d tell them all where to get off, and that her anger at them would give her the bloody-mindedness to actually go and do the damned thing and get the tablets herself.
The second part of that is still just about possible? I live in hope.
She’s not here to be liked by Joyce. She’s here to be a big sister and to get Joyce to quit feeling sorry for herself and do shit she needs to actually do.
Is that the right way to handle it? Dunno, but Joyce has kind of demonstrated that she has to be dragged kicking and screaming towards making healthy decisions for herself lately, so that’s just where it’s at, even if dogpiling her is going to be abrasive.
Joyce is telling them to leave her alone and Sarah, Becky and Dorothy are not respecting that boundary. “Coddling her” isn’t great, but neither is talking about her like she’s a spoiled child, and importantly, she never asked for either. Sarah is no better than Dorothy or Becky lately. Honestly, she just channels her lack of respect for Joyce’s autonomy towards acerbicness instead of condescending helpfulness.
Full disclosure, I am personally triggered by this sort of “person trying to say they’re upset and everyone just not taking them seriously” story (it’s a literal recurring nightmare for me) and it’s definitely making me crankier about it.
I’m in the same boat as you. On the spectrum and it is really demeaning and humiliating to be treated as a child. I’m a grown ass human, I don’t need toddler level admonishments or praise for doing a basic human thing. Hell, I’m still screwed up about it because sometimes I’m all for those basic yays then realize oh right, that’s because that’s something I’m given so often I have a sick pavlovian response to it
Joyce has only told them now to leave her alone. They can’t teleport, but Dorothy, at least, is agreeing to back off. Becky and Sarah don’t say it but I’m pretty sure they’ll back off too.
True but Becky and Sarah are still treating Joyce’s reaction as something silly rather then the realization they are collectively being very overbearing here.
You’re not wrong. I think Becky, despite her irreverent phrasing, does realize Joyce is not joking about this. Sarah probably realizes too but what she says isn’t helpful, I agree.
I think the observation that Joyce is being treated ‘like a spoiled child’ is spot on, even Dorothy’s body language looks like she’s dealing with a cranky toddler and doesn’t really appreciate that she’s been more patronizing then helpful here.
I think the Three are getting a little repetitive in this behavior. Do they not realize how badly they’re upsetting Joyce by treating hey like a child this way? It’s been going on for, like, a week, you’d think they’d have wised up.
I’m not exactly criticizing the writing, it’s just hard to see them being this… incessantly crappy towards their friend. It feels like it’s being exaggerated to help make a narrative point, which is fine, but if that goes on too long it just starts to feel like they never respected her at all. All I can guess is it seems to have gotten worse over the break for some unknown reason?
Last thing I’ll say: sometimes it’s more respectful to let someone be wrong for a while, to let them figure it out on their own, than to shove an unwanted answer in their face. It’s not just about independence, it’s about respecting their right to wander, their right to make mistakes, their right to write their own story of self-discovery rather than having it dictated to them.
Joyce has been dragged a lot over the last year. That’s painful for her sense of agency, her confidence, her esteem. Some of it was necessary–like calling her out over her homophobia. Some of it, like the glasses and the autism, was very hard for her.
Joyce is acting out here because she’s being denied the chance to make this HER decision. It’s her body. She wants to do this because she chose to, not because her friends made her do it.
She’s definitely been through a lot and it’s been hard for her.
I’m not sure she does want to do this because she chose to. Without her friends pushing her, I don’t think she does this at all. Much like the glasses, where she was also treated like a child and basically mommed into going to the eye doctor. She might have gotten there eventually, but there would have months of delay.
She’s been going through periods like this for years. She wouldn’t have gone to the doctor without Jennifer making her. Even now, it’s not at all clear she’d really go fill it on her own. Not just right now, while she’s in pain, but even after she feels better. And then she might still not be able to take the pills on her own.
She’s getting treated like a child because she’s acting like a child. Not just because of the current pain either, but all along. Her friends aren’t handling this well, but that’s partly because she’s hard to handle and yet she kind of needs to be handled.
Maybe it would be better for them to back off and do no more than suggest and offer to help every once in awhile, but I’m not at all sure the evidence shows that’ll work.
I think their treatment of Joyce as someone who needs to be taken care of has intensified largely on Dorothy and Becky’s end. Partly because Dorothy’s coping mechanism is to care for others and Joyce has historically needed more support and partly because of Becky’s need to insert herself more into Joyce’s life as she tries to change her self identity.
No, they don’t yet realize it. This conversation has only been going on for a minute or so. When you’re very concerned for a friend, it takes a while to get out of the emotion and analyze the exchange rationally in the context of months of separate experiences.
Damn, I hate panel two Sarah. Nothing sucks more than trying to curse or show force in an attempt to get someone off your face, only for that person to say “hahaha, I’m out intimidated”.
I mean, that’s not actually real. Dina specifically calls out that it’s superstitious bullshit. The author is absolutely free to throw that gag away if he’s tired of it
So maybe panel 5 is the point at which to say, “you don’t want our help or concern or anything, so get out of bed and get it yourself.” And leave, as requested. That’s the point of this conversation, I think: yes, it’s hard, but you need to help yourself. If you just admire the problem, you’re going to get to admire it again…and again….
Then maybe they should stop pigeonholing Joyce and being awful to her. She’s had her entire life ripped apart and thrown about and people are treating her like a child and acting as if she isn’t an adult
I’ve had people treat me like this and it feels awful and degrading and humiliating. Now add all her trauma, her physical pain, her identity being ripped to shreds?
Not even really.
Jennifer’s been better to her face, but she started the whole taking her to the doctor thing by talking to Dorothy and Becky: “Why aren’t you solving this?” and between the two of you, you could reasonably take care of her.
And Joe’s been better in some ways, but he’s also avoided dealing with a lot of it – especially when he went sneaking off to Becky to talk about Joyce looking sad.
There’s a lot of emotional labor being pushed onto Dorothy and Sarah (and in a different way, Becky). They’re not handling it well, but the basic problem is that everyone agrees it needs to be handled. That Joyce needs to be taken care of.
And it’s not yet clear from the narrative that they’re wrong.
Maybe it’s time for Joyce to accept the help of her friends. Or for Jennifer to make her triumphant entrance with the pills and request to have some alone time with Joyce for talk about that.
I think it would be incredibly funny and more than a little satisfying if Jennifer DID make a triumphant entrance with Joyce’s prescription in hand, which she’d agreed to pick up for Joyce off-panel because Joyce confided how uncomfortable she would be doing it herself, and, when questioned by the trio here about why Joyce didn’t just say so in response to all that badgering, tell them it’s because they’re being condescending assholes *thanks and you can go now.*
I don’t think that’s going to happen. But I sure would enjoy it if it did!
I’d kind of hate I think.
Partly because it skips over just how to have that conversation with Joyce without it turning into something traumatic.
I also find this amusing in light of how we’ve collectively spent the last couple months monstering Jennifer.
Plus Jennifer’s last chat with Joyce about the autism wasn’t exactly a shining example.
Speak for yourself, re: Jennifer. Personally, I think her recent interactions with Joyce have been the right kind of straightforward compassionate support, and before that, they apparently weren’t really interacting at all for a couple of months.
Absolutely no one who’s heard about it has covered themselves with glory regarding Joyce’s referral for a potential autism diagnosis, including Dina, Dorothy, and Sarah, each of whom managed to manifest a different flavor of reacting unhelpfully to someone else’s psychologically confusing and distressing news.
To each their own read on this, but I was pretty impressed by the low-drama way she persuaded Joyce to go to the doctor and also the honest way she answered Joyce’s questions about the state of their friendship. Whatever her own internal reasons for doing so—we know Jennifer is strongly motivated by a certain kind of self-image, a helper persona—it worked, and Joyce seems to have felt supported by it.
Contrasted to how she’s reacting to Dorothy, Becky, and Sarah here, and given that everything they’re doing—all the pressure, the expectations, the pre-existing ideas about how Joyce will react to these big things in her life that leave her with no emotional space to just *feel* anything without having to justify or defend herself—is stuff they’ve been doing for awhile…yeah I actually DO think Jennifer is offering a different angle of friendship that Joyce really needs and isn’t getting from her other close female friends right now, and that it’s better suited to help her through this than all the riding on her is. When Jennifer tried to help re: autism and “botched it” it *did* make Joyce feel better! Might not have been the way she intended to help, but the outcome was still that Joyce felt better. As opposed to here, where she is so sick and tired of the way she’s being handled that she actually snaps and tells her friends to leave her alone, in an uncharacteristically vulgar way that suggests to me that she’s actually angry about it. Everybody’s got good intentions; that’s not the question. What matters is how Joyce feels about how she’s being treated, and whether the support she’s being offered actually results in a happier, healthier Joyce.
Yeah, the key difference is she put an offer on the table, and let Joyce decide whether to take her up on it.
Dorothy booked the optometrist appointment for her and almost bodily dragged her there.
Dorothy and Becky both assumed even broaching the subject of a doctor’s visit about her mensural issues would go nowhere and didn’t even try. (At least until Jennifer broke the ice, then Dorothy was eager to swoop in and be the mom friend again.)
Boy that’s relatable. It’s been a while since I stained any bedding, thanks to the menstrual cup and my periods getting more manageable with age, but I still have sense-memories of that full-body lurch of horror when you realize you’re bleeding all over your sheets. It’s embarrassing, it’s uncomfortable, and the worst fucking part is that then you have to deal with cleaning it up when you already feel like shit. (Not to mention the little dance of “get I get to the bathroom to start the process of cleaning *me* up without dripping all over the sheets even more, not to mention the floor”.)
I love all these characters and I assign the best of motivations to them in terms of genuinely wanting to help Joyce here, but given how much people—including some of these people right here—have been badgering and harassing her about emotionally fraught subjects while they know she’s in a tremendous amount of pain, it is truly impressive that she hasn’t snapped and told them to fuck off before this. (Also, Joyce: please consider “I invite you to crawl out of my asshole” as a response in the future the next time Becky tries her shitty re-conversion tactics on you again. Please. As a personal favor to me.)
Ha yes. Also you reminded me of the time I was in the habit of doing stretches in bed in the morning, and one time it was day 2 of my period and I did a stretch that involved lifting my legs up…in retrospect that wasn’t too smart.
OK, so she’s annoyed at all of them. From the last strip, I thought it was just Sarah. I guess she’s grumpy from pain – that’s the obvious thing – but I wonder if part of her upbringing made her embarrassed about periods as well as all the sex-related stuff? I mean, if she’s in pain AND embarrassed, that’s a double reason to want people to piss off. It might not be the healthiest way to act, but it’s an understandable reaction.
pain, embarrasement, and 3 people squawking at you right when you wake up in pain, trying to give 3 different versions of the same advice/help (do it yourself, we’ll go together, i’ll do it for you).
Maybe, but I’m going with this is the second time she has been badgered while in bed resting (and in pain) by a group of people who have either been told to a) don’t or b) stop and continued to be there or berate her for her reactions to this behavior. This group should have had the common sense to NOT but decided that “right” was more important. Beyond that if she just got the prescription in the past 24 hours that is minimal time to contemplate your deprograming AND drag yourself in while you hurt. The pills are most likely going to do nothing during this period while her body adjusts so I’d see it as completely valid if she just rode this one out. She can drag herself in when her brain recalibrates.
But it would be consistent with Joyce’s character to be too freaked out by her overall situation to get the pills on her own, or take them, or ever get out of bed again. She needs her friends’ support and help. (Of course, she needs a personal therapist and a whole list of medications. But so does the rest of the cast; it’s the strip’s premise.)
…I don’t know if it helps anyone or anything, but just in case anyone here is feeling fed up and overwhelmed and at their wits’ end, like the characters here feel sometimes, there are people to talk to who care. I just put this list together for a friend, thought perhaps I’d post it here too.
UK-based free nonjudgmental peer support:
samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan
US-based free nonjudgmental peer support and/or crisis intervention, as needed, available by text, online chat, or phone:
List of peer support phone numbers by state:
screening.mhanational.org/content/need-talk-someone-warmlines
List of national US crisis hotlines by topic:
cnet.com/health/suicide-hotlines-crisis-hotlines-to-call-or-text-when-you-need-help
Suicide and Crisis intervention lifeline:
988lifeline.org or call 9-8-8 from any US phone (warning, they will send someone out there to check on you if they are worried)
A lot of crisis lines can and will call police, which is very dangerous for marginalized people; remember to do your research beforehand to see if it’s safe and to see what records they might keep on you.
A safe crisis line should be anonymous and won’t require an address.
Very true! Thank you for mentioning that. So important to remember. It’s a big complaint about the 988 hotline.
The Samaritans does not contact police or emergency services. Warmlines may vary depending on which one.
The resources listed above from “Basic Needs Support” on downward do not call police or emergency services, but then, they aren’t meant for crisis intervention anyway.
Also, many of these hotlines are staffed by volunteers, who may have their own agendas, religious or otherwise, or are funded by advertising. So you may have to wait on hold for a long time to get an available counselor, during which time you might have to see ads (for example, if you are using a messaging platform).
Not to disparage hotlines, of course! Certainly good places to turn if you have nowhere else to turn — good numbers to have on hand for help and support. Just, as Joy said, let the buyer beware and do your own research.
today in #9chickweedlane i learned we have to be shown children learning and relearning what sex is, for Reasons, even though they already clearly know and have prepared nuanced questions about it!
also that Gran must hate, if she's still alive, how Old Juliette is the same but with gray hair
one of my favorite things is when a commenter explodes WHEN DO THESE CHARACTERS GET THERAPY but directed towards a character who canonically has a regular therapist
Hot Toys Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 1/6 Scale Darth Vader Deluxe ($495) & Standard ($315) is up for preorder at Sideshow - shrsl.com/4wcx6 #ad
If you preorder make sure to hit the Exclusive versions since they include a commemorative plaque and cost the same.
btw if you're one of those rando bluesky weirdos who doesn't know me but sees me in the wild being sarcastic and don't know i'm being sarcastic because you haven't taken like 30 seconds to, like, maybe look at my user profile or something, keep walking, you're not going to score internet points here
Here's an entertaining cite at the bottom of the first page
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
JUST IN: Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan moves to dismiss federal criminal case against her for allegedly helping immigrant hide from ICE. Her lawyers say she's protected by official acts & judicial immunity and 10th Amendment. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Where did Hollywood go so wrong? I thought movies were supposed to be an escape from reality, a chance to put your worries aside and not have to think about any underlying ideas or concepts. Well, not anymore.
theonion.com/you-can...
It's not a new argument, of course, but Chesterton dismissed it effectively in 1908.
"You will hear everlastingly... this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man."
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com ⋅ 2d
Hawley dismisses Trump lining his pockets with his memecoin: "Listen, I think nobody believes that Donald Trump can be bought. I mean, what does Donald Trump need more money for?"
wilbur, savvy enough to know he's in a comic strip but still not a great actor, awkwardly lifts a muffin up into frame so that we, the audience, understand that he has a muffin right now, which is very important narratively, but he's not really selling it well as an organic, human action
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 1d
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 2d
Pavel
@spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 11d
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that’s why I keep a towel by my bed
…
ok I lied that’s not the reason BUT IT COULD BE
real conversation:
“Back in the day, MTV would always censor it as ‘ass-****’, which didn’t make sense, because isn’t ‘ass’ the bad part?”
“Yeah, I thought that was weird when ‘goddamn’ would get censored as ‘***-damn’, like, isn’t ‘damn’ the bad word?”
“We’re just a few years out from ‘******-fucker'”
Yeah, late nite talk shows often talk about how they can say “ass” or “hole”, but if they combine them, it gets bleeped. “Cock” is another weird one they were making fun of the other night because of some school’s mascots: “fighting cocks” or something. Also why “$chitt’s Creek” always has to have the logo appear on screen when they say it. FCC rules are bizarre.
The hypocritical puritans really fucked up this country.
Oops. Flagged by mistake. When city people use country expressions, they always get them wrong. It isn’t “shit’s creek,” regardless of the spelling. It’s “shit crick.”
*Plays George Carlin on the hacked muzak.*
Blink-182’s song based on George Carlin’s list. (It’s pretty much just those words repeated a few times)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnYjghF-gBE
More bands need to run multiple vocalists with harmonies.
We’re up shit creek in a chicken-wire canoe!
Wordy
Sometimes I like the extra wordiness for emphasis.
Without a paddle!
I guess it was assumed since they didn’t mention it.
I personally like “Up shit creek without a canoe”
The earliest extant reference to the phrase appeared in the transcript of the 1868 Annual report of the US Secretary of War, in a section that included reports from districts of South Carolina:
“Our men have put old Lincoln up shit creek.”
Schitt’s Creek was originally produced and broadcast in Canada. In the US, it was only ever available via cable or streaming on Netflix. Since it was never broadcast over the air, the FCC had nothing to do with it. I could probably spend hours discussing the stupid crap the FCC actually has done (artificially limiting broadcasting licenses, the Fairness Doctrine, delaying cellular phone service for decades), but you can’t blame them for this one.
Eh, “damn” is considered fairly mild, but I suspect many would object to “goddamn” on the basis that it’s blasphemous. OTOH, I find the idea of people insulting each other as “***holes” hilarious, and I’d love to see it.
You didn’t watch the premiere of “Little Demon” this past week, did you??
the mexican dub of drawn together was censored but in a way you could notice what the word censored was, so either it was malicious compliance or they thought the bleeps made the show funnier
I watching some of the original, hour-long episodes of Cheap Seats and some of the words they censored were ludicrous. Even more so, given that the Sklars’ subsequent dialog almost always gave away what word got bleeped.
One particular example was during (I think) the Mr. Universe episode where they were cracking on some guy’s backne. “That guy’s got a back *bleep* – a ‘bipple!‘”
“Hey, you sass that hoopy Ana Chronisitc? There’s a frood who really knows where their towel is.”
Sorry I will show myself out.
Plus 10!
Ten? Naw mate. This here’s a Queezle. It goes up to eleven! That’s one higher innit.
Well if you say it like that, now I wanna know the reason you keep a towel by your bed
for after sexy times
Always have a towel at the ready. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you — daft as a brush, but very very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost.” What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
So be a hoopy frood and know where your towel is at all time!
YEAH JOYCE!!!! Stick it to ’em!!!
She should stick it in her underwear. A pad is going to do precious little to shut up the sympathy brigade, and will do nothing for her period if put elsewhere.
I don’t see why should she? Sarah may be being unhelpful, but both Dorothy and Becky are honestly trying to help in a situation where she’s not even helping herself.
Just get Joyce her birth control, Dotty. Becky knows her birthday.
I dont think that’s a good idea now that she’s specifically said she doesn’t want their help
This is true…. but it also does smack a lot of period hormones and an outburst that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I have to wonder if her response would be different if she wasnt actively bleeding out her body weight
See it from her perspective: You’re in pain. Three of your closest friends are being real noisy when you just want to be alone in quiet. They keep talking to you like you’re a child. They keep arguing amongst themselves and to you about how you need to act, just making more chaotic noise after noise and wont listen to you. I’d snap back too.
Eh, Sarah might have the right idea. Coddling her right now is maybe not the best idea. Certainly doesn’t seem like she’d appreciate it much.
It’s a problem because Joyce’s birthday is May 5th, 20??.
Also, you really gotta move that “Flag” link, Willis.
He’s said that he can’t. He said he just about maxed out the customizability as is. It’s fine, he’s said he doesn’t get any notification at all unless it hits a threshold that he’s adjusted. It’s not nearly as much of a problem as people who are accidentally clicking consistently think it is.
To be fair to them accidentally killing comments with reports was a problem, for the first few hours the feature was up.
Now it takes flags from something like 10 different users before a comment is disappeared into the moderation queue. Accidental reports look scarier than they actually are.
Maybe reduce the threatening sound of the report page then?
Like: “Thank you for flagging the comment. It has (or hasn’t yet) been nuked. But if multiple different users all flag it in a [secret algorithm], then it will be seriously considered.”
Ah, it’s not even that bad. Literally just says in standard black in background:
” Thank you for your feedback. We will look into it.”
that’s literally the opposite of what Joyce wants right now
But that’s practically what Joyce needs right now.
does she? the effects won’t fully kick in for another month at least, and this cycle is already shot
why the urgency to do it RIGHT THIS INSTANT?
There is no good reason, Dorothy and Becky didn’t even want to bring the pill up as an option yesterday but now that Jennifer has helped Joyce it’s like their trying to reaffirm their territory as Joyce’s two best friends. Definatly comes off as possessive even if well meaning.
I suspect they think that with crisis over, Joyce will just put off getting the prescription filled because she doesn’t want to buy the “hussy pills”.
And they might well be right.
Maybe, maybe not, either way, there’s no real reason to gang up on her into going right this instant like she’s on a tight deadline. She needs some breathing room to come to decisions herself.
Oh Jesus yeah. And THEN get out of her ass!
FR though, Joyce DOES need to get her meds or she’s gonna be in a lot more pain then she needs to be. They are right. However, I can definitely see why Joyce just isn’t in the mood for this. *I* can barely muster a giveafuck when I’m in that kinda pain or for about a week after too.
That Zappa-scalated quickly.
“I’m the slime”?
Wrong fluid to get all over the sofa sofa.
Cursed by her own original sin or hubris or whatever that story she used to believe was the reason women have periods as a punishment by god!
I just wrote out the story and it was very amusing but the internet ate it.
IMO, for thousands of years, patriarchs were mad at Eve for sharing.
(Not a common interpretation. I’m sticking with it though.)
It’s worse when it audibly gurgles out.
*Sigh*
I’d get surprises at work a lot – just standing there trying to act nonchalant about the blood trickling down my leg.
Then I got vaccinated against babies.
Yup. That happened on my first day of the internship that later became my job. D-:
What a mess…
First day of college orientation I bled through my period panties and filled up 2 pads
I figured I’d that was the worst day I ever had on campus I’ll be fine for classes.
Vaccinated against babies wtf
The no-flow BC shot. For most women it works several months per shot, and they have a warning period before ovulation so they know they’re fertile. I think it was Depo-Provera or summit like that.
…I’m reminded that in German, oral contraceptives are literally called antibabypillen.
Using menstrual cups + period underwear has been a godsend for stopping this
I love Joyce, I do, but for an ex-Christian, she can’t hop down from her cross fast enough.
yes, thank you, you put it into words better than i could
I am far too familiar with the face made in panel four. Thank science for my own hussy pills.
Yuppp, that is definitely the expression of “A giant clot just fell out of my vagina and I hate everything.”
She put too much force behind those words, the cannon was fired…!
RIP Her pants.
The ebb and flow of Joyce’s situation is a sight to behold.
Get her birthdate, stat.
*plays the riff of Marrow by St. Vincent*
Angry Ass-Joyce, I never thought I’d see the day.
GO JOYCE, IT’S YA BIRTHDAY that they want, so don’t give it to them
I had been hoping for Dorothy to go with her, but honestly I think I’m leaning towards Joe now.
That would entirely defeat any desire to avoid her being seen as getting them for sexual reasons. I get the desire for them to make more dramatic decisions, but I can’t see how she actually gets there on that one.
Granted it would be weird in this specific context. But Joe’s definitely established as someone who treats Joyce like more of an adult, and doesn’t come at her with overbearing concern or condescension. He snipes at her, yeah, but in a much more human way than these three. Even if they’re technically more polite, Joe’s the one treating her like a fellow human.
I think that’s a bit harsh, but yeah, Joe’s less patronizing, sure, that much is true. Joe and Joyce have I think an innate understanding of where the other one is coming from in terms of guilt, just for very different reasons, obviously, and that lets them meet in the middle more.
Not only cursing but being creatively vulgar about it, she’s come a long way.
I’m so proud of her 🥲
They grow up so fast…
Who said the other day that she was gonna snap on everyone?
That was me. And maybe others. I mean, it was foreseeable!
I was hoping she’d tell them all where to get off, and that her anger at them would give her the bloody-mindedness to actually go and do the damned thing and get the tablets herself.
The second part of that is still just about possible? I live in hope.
But yes, I was only one of several, too.
…Okay.
Joyce is right and she should say it!!
Fake date plot is failed.
But now we got an Assertive Ass Joyce.
I am appeased. for now.
She’s very ass-ertive.
Sarah gets ever less-likable.
She’s not here to be liked by Joyce. She’s here to be a big sister and to get Joyce to quit feeling sorry for herself and do shit she needs to actually do.
Is that the right way to handle it? Dunno, but Joyce has kind of demonstrated that she has to be dragged kicking and screaming towards making healthy decisions for herself lately, so that’s just where it’s at, even if dogpiling her is going to be abrasive.
Joyce is telling them to leave her alone and Sarah, Becky and Dorothy are not respecting that boundary. “Coddling her” isn’t great, but neither is talking about her like she’s a spoiled child, and importantly, she never asked for either. Sarah is no better than Dorothy or Becky lately. Honestly, she just channels her lack of respect for Joyce’s autonomy towards acerbicness instead of condescending helpfulness.
Poor Joyce.
Full disclosure, I am personally triggered by this sort of “person trying to say they’re upset and everyone just not taking them seriously” story (it’s a literal recurring nightmare for me) and it’s definitely making me crankier about it.
I’m in the same boat as you. On the spectrum and it is really demeaning and humiliating to be treated as a child. I’m a grown ass human, I don’t need toddler level admonishments or praise for doing a basic human thing. Hell, I’m still screwed up about it because sometimes I’m all for those basic yays then realize oh right, that’s because that’s something I’m given so often I have a sick pavlovian response to it
Joyce has only told them now to leave her alone. They can’t teleport, but Dorothy, at least, is agreeing to back off. Becky and Sarah don’t say it but I’m pretty sure they’ll back off too.
True but Becky and Sarah are still treating Joyce’s reaction as something silly rather then the realization they are collectively being very overbearing here.
You’re not wrong. I think Becky, despite her irreverent phrasing, does realize Joyce is not joking about this. Sarah probably realizes too but what she says isn’t helpful, I agree.
I read Becky as taking Joyce’s anger seriously after Joyce started swearing.
I think the observation that Joyce is being treated ‘like a spoiled child’ is spot on, even Dorothy’s body language looks like she’s dealing with a cranky toddler and doesn’t really appreciate that she’s been more patronizing then helpful here.
Joyce is in excruciating pain, she has all the right to feel sorry for herself.
She does, but unless she can will pills into existence, she also needs to go to the pharmacy.
Dunno. I find Sarah expression really cute. She loves angry Joyce♡.
WOOOOO I’m glad she said it!
Remove yourselves entirely from my arse !
“Make yerselves useful or scram, scallywags!”
TFW you have no f***s left to give.
Now I want to flag this for being excessively awesome. I didn’t but I want to.
Thanks, Opus.
“Behold, the field in which I grow my f***s. Lay thine eyes upon it and thou shall see that it is barren.”
https://nerdofwar.tumblr.com/image/79211468646
I think the Three are getting a little repetitive in this behavior. Do they not realize how badly they’re upsetting Joyce by treating hey like a child this way? It’s been going on for, like, a week, you’d think they’d have wised up.
I’m not exactly criticizing the writing, it’s just hard to see them being this… incessantly crappy towards their friend. It feels like it’s being exaggerated to help make a narrative point, which is fine, but if that goes on too long it just starts to feel like they never respected her at all. All I can guess is it seems to have gotten worse over the break for some unknown reason?
Last thing I’ll say: sometimes it’s more respectful to let someone be wrong for a while, to let them figure it out on their own, than to shove an unwanted answer in their face. It’s not just about independence, it’s about respecting their right to wander, their right to make mistakes, their right to write their own story of self-discovery rather than having it dictated to them.
Joyce has been dragged a lot over the last year. That’s painful for her sense of agency, her confidence, her esteem. Some of it was necessary–like calling her out over her homophobia. Some of it, like the glasses and the autism, was very hard for her.
Joyce is acting out here because she’s being denied the chance to make this HER decision. It’s her body. She wants to do this because she chose to, not because her friends made her do it.
fully agreed
She’s definitely been through a lot and it’s been hard for her.
I’m not sure she does want to do this because she chose to. Without her friends pushing her, I don’t think she does this at all. Much like the glasses, where she was also treated like a child and basically mommed into going to the eye doctor. She might have gotten there eventually, but there would have months of delay.
She’s been going through periods like this for years. She wouldn’t have gone to the doctor without Jennifer making her. Even now, it’s not at all clear she’d really go fill it on her own. Not just right now, while she’s in pain, but even after she feels better. And then she might still not be able to take the pills on her own.
She’s getting treated like a child because she’s acting like a child. Not just because of the current pain either, but all along. Her friends aren’t handling this well, but that’s partly because she’s hard to handle and yet she kind of needs to be handled.
Maybe it would be better for them to back off and do no more than suggest and offer to help every once in awhile, but I’m not at all sure the evidence shows that’ll work.
90 minutes of standing ovation.
I think their treatment of Joyce as someone who needs to be taken care of has intensified largely on Dorothy and Becky’s end. Partly because Dorothy’s coping mechanism is to care for others and Joyce has historically needed more support and partly because of Becky’s need to insert herself more into Joyce’s life as she tries to change her self identity.
No, they don’t yet realize it. This conversation has only been going on for a minute or so. When you’re very concerned for a friend, it takes a while to get out of the emotion and analyze the exchange rationally in the context of months of separate experiences.
This conversation isn’t where the arc started, though. It’s been building for a while.
No indignity too small four our Joyce
She used to use “b-hole” but now has raised her grade in cussing to an A.
Kazuma under Kotatsu impression is growing stronger
Damn, I hate panel two Sarah. Nothing sucks more than trying to curse or show force in an attempt to get someone off your face, only for that person to say “hahaha, I’m out intimidated”.
First panel: next book title?
Is no one else wondering why Sarah is not, in fact, in a state of beatific euphoria while Joyce is miserable, anxious, agonized, and horrified?
WTF happened to “A balance must be maintained“?
[It’s almost as if someone had a funny idea and did a bunch of strips about it, then forgot about it a year later]
I mean, that’s not actually real. Dina specifically calls out that it’s superstitious bullshit. The author is absolutely free to throw that gag away if he’s tired of it
…that’s called writing a comic strip?
So maybe panel 5 is the point at which to say, “you don’t want our help or concern or anything, so get out of bed and get it yourself.” And leave, as requested. That’s the point of this conversation, I think: yes, it’s hard, but you need to help yourself. If you just admire the problem, you’re going to get to admire it again…and again….
Joyce is not the only one hurting here.
Then maybe they should stop pigeonholing Joyce and being awful to her. She’s had her entire life ripped apart and thrown about and people are treating her like a child and acting as if she isn’t an adult
I’ve had people treat me like this and it feels awful and degrading and humiliating. Now add all her trauma, her physical pain, her identity being ripped to shreds?
Yeah, I’m on Joyce’s side here
It seems like the only people who haven’t been infantilizing her lately are Jennifer and Joe.
… Someone go get Jason, we have a theory to test.
Not even really.
Jennifer’s been better to her face, but she started the whole taking her to the doctor thing by talking to Dorothy and Becky: “Why aren’t you solving this?” and between the two of you, you could reasonably take care of her.
And Joe’s been better in some ways, but he’s also avoided dealing with a lot of it – especially when he went sneaking off to Becky to talk about Joyce looking sad.
There’s a lot of emotional labor being pushed onto Dorothy and Sarah (and in a different way, Becky). They’re not handling it well, but the basic problem is that everyone agrees it needs to be handled. That Joyce needs to be taken care of.
And it’s not yet clear from the narrative that they’re wrong.
Ordinarily yes but I’d say hygiene takes priority here. Getting up to get it herself is gonna make a bigger mess.
Maybe it’s time for Joyce to accept the help of her friends. Or for Jennifer to make her triumphant entrance with the pills and request to have some alone time with Joyce for talk about that.
I think it would be incredibly funny and more than a little satisfying if Jennifer DID make a triumphant entrance with Joyce’s prescription in hand, which she’d agreed to pick up for Joyce off-panel because Joyce confided how uncomfortable she would be doing it herself, and, when questioned by the trio here about why Joyce didn’t just say so in response to all that badgering, tell them it’s because they’re being condescending assholes *thanks and you can go now.*
I don’t think that’s going to happen. But I sure would enjoy it if it did!
Yes please!
I’d kind of hate I think.
Partly because it skips over just how to have that conversation with Joyce without it turning into something traumatic.
I also find this amusing in light of how we’ve collectively spent the last couple months monstering Jennifer.
Plus Jennifer’s last chat with Joyce about the autism wasn’t exactly a shining example.
Speak for yourself, re: Jennifer. Personally, I think her recent interactions with Joyce have been the right kind of straightforward compassionate support, and before that, they apparently weren’t really interacting at all for a couple of months.
Absolutely no one who’s heard about it has covered themselves with glory regarding Joyce’s referral for a potential autism diagnosis, including Dina, Dorothy, and Sarah, each of whom managed to manifest a different flavor of reacting unhelpfully to someone else’s psychologically confusing and distressing news.
The bit where Joyce straight up told her she was trying to be helpful and botched it, so Joyce felt better.
A+ “compassionate support”
I agree no one’s done well, but the idea that Jennifer’s the exception who’s figured just the right angle to help Joyce with doesn’t hold up.
To each their own read on this, but I was pretty impressed by the low-drama way she persuaded Joyce to go to the doctor and also the honest way she answered Joyce’s questions about the state of their friendship. Whatever her own internal reasons for doing so—we know Jennifer is strongly motivated by a certain kind of self-image, a helper persona—it worked, and Joyce seems to have felt supported by it.
Contrasted to how she’s reacting to Dorothy, Becky, and Sarah here, and given that everything they’re doing—all the pressure, the expectations, the pre-existing ideas about how Joyce will react to these big things in her life that leave her with no emotional space to just *feel* anything without having to justify or defend herself—is stuff they’ve been doing for awhile…yeah I actually DO think Jennifer is offering a different angle of friendship that Joyce really needs and isn’t getting from her other close female friends right now, and that it’s better suited to help her through this than all the riding on her is. When Jennifer tried to help re: autism and “botched it” it *did* make Joyce feel better! Might not have been the way she intended to help, but the outcome was still that Joyce felt better. As opposed to here, where she is so sick and tired of the way she’s being handled that she actually snaps and tells her friends to leave her alone, in an uncharacteristically vulgar way that suggests to me that she’s actually angry about it. Everybody’s got good intentions; that’s not the question. What matters is how Joyce feels about how she’s being treated, and whether the support she’s being offered actually results in a happier, healthier Joyce.
Yeah, the key difference is she put an offer on the table, and let Joyce decide whether to take her up on it.
Dorothy booked the optometrist appointment for her and almost bodily dragged her there.
Dorothy and Becky both assumed even broaching the subject of a doctor’s visit about her mensural issues would go nowhere and didn’t even try. (At least until Jennifer broke the ice, then Dorothy was eager to swoop in and be the mom friend again.)
*menstrual issues
Jury’s still out on how well Joyce can carry a tune.
Boy that’s relatable. It’s been a while since I stained any bedding, thanks to the menstrual cup and my periods getting more manageable with age, but I still have sense-memories of that full-body lurch of horror when you realize you’re bleeding all over your sheets. It’s embarrassing, it’s uncomfortable, and the worst fucking part is that then you have to deal with cleaning it up when you already feel like shit. (Not to mention the little dance of “get I get to the bathroom to start the process of cleaning *me* up without dripping all over the sheets even more, not to mention the floor”.)
I love all these characters and I assign the best of motivations to them in terms of genuinely wanting to help Joyce here, but given how much people—including some of these people right here—have been badgering and harassing her about emotionally fraught subjects while they know she’s in a tremendous amount of pain, it is truly impressive that she hasn’t snapped and told them to fuck off before this. (Also, Joyce: please consider “I invite you to crawl out of my asshole” as a response in the future the next time Becky tries her shitty re-conversion tactics on you again. Please. As a personal favor to me.)
Ha yes. Also you reminded me of the time I was in the habit of doing stretches in bed in the morning, and one time it was day 2 of my period and I did a stretch that involved lifting my legs up…in retrospect that wasn’t too smart.
Second to last panel woulda really REALLY been funny with a sound effect like *splorp*
Or *gooOOSH*
Poor Joyce XD
Why is there an Alice Cooper song floating around in my head right now???
OK, so she’s annoyed at all of them. From the last strip, I thought it was just Sarah. I guess she’s grumpy from pain – that’s the obvious thing – but I wonder if part of her upbringing made her embarrassed about periods as well as all the sex-related stuff? I mean, if she’s in pain AND embarrassed, that’s a double reason to want people to piss off. It might not be the healthiest way to act, but it’s an understandable reaction.
pain, embarrasement, and 3 people squawking at you right when you wake up in pain, trying to give 3 different versions of the same advice/help (do it yourself, we’ll go together, i’ll do it for you).
Maybe, but I’m going with this is the second time she has been badgered while in bed resting (and in pain) by a group of people who have either been told to a) don’t or b) stop and continued to be there or berate her for her reactions to this behavior. This group should have had the common sense to NOT but decided that “right” was more important. Beyond that if she just got the prescription in the past 24 hours that is minimal time to contemplate your deprograming AND drag yourself in while you hurt. The pills are most likely going to do nothing during this period while her body adjusts so I’d see it as completely valid if she just rode this one out. She can drag herself in when her brain recalibrates.
But it would be consistent with Joyce’s character to be too freaked out by her overall situation to get the pills on her own, or take them, or ever get out of bed again. She needs her friends’ support and help. (Of course, she needs a personal therapist and a whole list of medications. But so does the rest of the cast; it’s the strip’s premise.)
I don’t think that’s how butts work, Joyce.
Was waiting for the snap
…I don’t know if it helps anyone or anything, but just in case anyone here is feeling fed up and overwhelmed and at their wits’ end, like the characters here feel sometimes, there are people to talk to who care. I just put this list together for a friend, thought perhaps I’d post it here too.
UK-based free nonjudgmental peer support:
samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan
US-based free nonjudgmental peer support and/or crisis intervention, as needed, available by text, online chat, or phone:
List of peer support phone numbers by state:
screening.mhanational.org/content/need-talk-someone-warmlines
List of national US crisis hotlines by topic:
cnet.com/health/suicide-hotlines-crisis-hotlines-to-call-or-text-when-you-need-help
Suicide and Crisis intervention lifeline:
988lifeline.org or call 9-8-8 from any US phone (warning, they will send someone out there to check on you if they are worried)
Free, multilingual disaster distress helpline: 1-800-985-5990
samhsa.gov/find-help/disaster-distress-helpline
Tips for dealing with stress, with phone numbers at the end:
cdc.gov/violenceprevention/about/copingwith-stresstips.html (scroll down)
Free COVID stress counseling for Californians and everyone else too:
(833) 317-HOPE (4673)
calhope.org
Basic needs support resources for every community: call 2-1-1
211.org
findhelp.org
connectie.org
COVID and flu help wherever you are:
covid.gov or call 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489 or 7-1-1)
Free legal help everywhere:
lawhelp.org
Free self-support apps:
selfhelp.samaritans.org
mobile.va.gov/app/ptsd-coach
mobile.va.gov/app/covid-coach
Take good care, everyone!
A lot of crisis lines can and will call police, which is very dangerous for marginalized people; remember to do your research beforehand to see if it’s safe and to see what records they might keep on you.
A safe crisis line should be anonymous and won’t require an address.
Very true! Thank you for mentioning that. So important to remember. It’s a big complaint about the 988 hotline.
The Samaritans does not contact police or emergency services. Warmlines may vary depending on which one.
The resources listed above from “Basic Needs Support” on downward do not call police or emergency services, but then, they aren’t meant for crisis intervention anyway.
Also, many of these hotlines are staffed by volunteers, who may have their own agendas, religious or otherwise, or are funded by advertising. So you may have to wait on hold for a long time to get an available counselor, during which time you might have to see ads (for example, if you are using a messaging platform).
Not to disparage hotlines, of course! Certainly good places to turn if you have nowhere else to turn — good numbers to have on hand for help and support. Just, as Joy said, let the buyer beware and do your own research.
I come back three months later to nothing much changing between these four.
Joyce and Joe aren’t even a thing yet.
This has been an entirely uneventful 3 months.
*refuses to look back at the Jennifer/Ruth and Walk/Everyone Else situation*
Where is Buckets of Blood Guy when you need him?
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-9-comic/01-flyin-to-the-red/capture/
Probably on some sort of registry, and/or in a cell.