Sad, unsettling Monday
Pluggers, 9/23/24
An oft-noted source of malaise in American life is a rise of loneliness, as "third spaces" -- places where people socialize that aren't home or work -- decline, and more and more people spend all their time with immediate family, coworkers -- or, as they age, themselves. My new crackpot theory is that this explains why individual Plugger entries have gotten increasingly weird and idiosyncratic over the years that I've read the strip. They used to be the sort of corny and relatable content that emerged from consensus as you and your buddies griped or joked about life's little foibles at the bar or on the job site. But now? Now that you took your pension and your wife has died and the VFW hall has closed, now that mostly you just sit on the couch with the TV turned out way too loud, so you can hear it and also can't really think, which is maybe the whole point? Well, now who knows what your old pals who you exchange occasional texts with do. Do they mute the TV before they reply to your text? Probably, right? You do it, so it stands to reason that they do too. Maybe that's why they haven't replied to your text yet. Maybe they're just waiting for their show to end so they can focus some attention on it. That's probably it.
Gasoline Alley, 9/23/24
In addition to being obviously annoying, Rufus and Joel are also uncanny, in the sense that they alone among the cast stay the same age even as everyone ages around them. Are they truly human at all, or are they strange visitors from the fae realms? Well, today's strip at least establishes that Rufus was in fact pushed down a human birth canal, which may be more information than any of us ever wanted, but now we have it.
Shoe, 9/23/24
I love the fact that the Perfesser's eyes are closed here. He's not just daydreaming about these culinary delights: he appears to be deep in the act of prayer, as if he's trying to manifest them. This probably hurts Roz's feelings, as she runs the restaurant where he's currently sitting and from which he could presumably simply order them.