JULY VOTING INCENTIVE UP NOW!
I felt like drawing a new pic of Puck. So I did. And I put it on a shirt! If you want the shirt, it's on sale for $14 for the next three days (from the point I post this, so until Thursday night, I think) and you can get it RIGHT HERE! If you just want to see the pic, though, vote for Puck on TWC!
VOTE TO BE SO VERY, VERY KIND!
As for this comic...
For the record, I'm proud of panel three. And yes, I did study stills from 'Dirty Dancing' to get the pose right. I'm that serious. From studying that footage, I can say two things: (1) Patrick Swayze had to have INSANE upper body strength and coordination to pull that off, and (2) even with his insane upper body strength, the chances of Jennifer Grey swan-diving face first into the ground due to the balance being slightly off was still high. It's just ... it looks dangerous is all I'm saying.
Wait, does anyone remember 'Dirty Dancing'? Why do I continually put stupid references to ancient 80's movies into a webcomic that's targeted to a demographic that wasn't even around in the 80's? Because culture, damnit! That's why!
And hey, speaking of dead cultural refs, it's #501! Anyone remember button-fly jeans? Anyone? I owned a pair in middle school.
Puck 501
Chapter: Junior PromCharacters: Colin Daphne Hannah Papa Shnorf Phoebe Puck Tyler (aka Taylor)Tags: dirty dancing prom sugar
JULY VOTING INCENTIVE UP NOW!
I felt like drawing a new pic of Puck. So I did. And I put it on a shirt! If you want the shirt, it's on sale for $14 for the next three days (from the point I post this, so until Thursday night, I think) and you can get it RIGHT HERE! If you just want to see the pic, though, vote for Puck on TWC!
VOTE TO BE SO VERY, VERY KIND!
As for this comic...
For the record, I'm proud of panel three. And yes, I did study stills from 'Dirty Dancing' to get the pose right. I'm that serious. From studying that footage, I can say two things: (1) Patrick Swayze had to have INSANE upper body strength and coordination to pull that off, and (2) even with his insane upper body strength, the chances of Jennifer Grey swan-diving face first into the ground due to the balance being slightly off was still high. It's just ... it looks dangerous is all I'm saying.
Wait, does anyone remember 'Dirty Dancing'? Why do I continually put stupid references to ancient 80's movies into a webcomic that's targeted to a demographic that wasn't even around in the 80's? Because culture, damnit! That's why!
And hey, speaking of dead cultural refs, it's #501! Anyone remember button-fly jeans? Anyone? I owned a pair in middle school.
“Dirty Dancing”?
Nowadays, they call it “Planking”.
😛
Oh, them kids these days.
The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Wang Chung, Red Dawn, Robocop, button fly AND Legion.
You, sir, are cultured.
Did I mention that my grandmother was Canadian?
Your blood runs half maple?
That’s a curious point. Mom could have claimed a dual citizenship, couldn’t she. I mean because of grandma’s citizenship, right? So I’m not sure about the statistical percentage of maple syrup, hematologicly, that is. Although, I’ve never had a creuller I didn’t like yet.
At least a quarter maple, then.
Don’t forget Back To The Future and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Those fall under AP Science and AP Sociology.
Well, I was born in 89, so I’m technically from the 80’s. I’m also from Australia, so back then it still took a good 5 years for any current culture to filter over here.
That said, I have heard of the term ‘Dirty Dancing’, don’t really know anything about it other than that…. I could just google it…. but I would have to open another tab and NOT get distracted by other stuff.
It’s probably not worth the extra tab.
I still have a pair of buttonfly’s somewhere… Everytime I put them on I’d just say: “Why…”
You ask “Why?” but the 80’s asked “Why not?”
Oddly enough, in the 80s (and beyond) I was _required_ to wear button-fly pants. Of course, they were camoflage-patterned, but…
Re: the voting incentive-
“phwoar
interj.
Expresses sexual desire on seeing a person that one is attracted to.”
What’s the pronunciation guide for that?
/fwɔː(ɹ)/ 🙂
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/phwoar
Hmm. It’s a British thing, I see. Explains why I don’t know what it sounds like.
Well, bake’em, climb ’em apples an’ let’s ‘ave a butchers, gov!
I’m not cockney enough for that.
I saw the article, and I am no more informed about how to pronounce it…
Nor I.
Well. That body isn’t just part of Papa Schnorf’s costume, then.
I’m pretty sure it’s a costume, but the real guy might fill it out more than we’re thinking.
Phoebe’s having the time of her life
No, she never felt this way before
…and she’d do it all again!
It’s TRUE!
And I swear it’s the truth
And she owes it all to candy cigarettes.
“They haven’t even started playing music yet”
Like they have to? Dance and the music will come…
Exactly. You have the right approach to these things.
What do you mean they’re not playing music? Is everyone not hearing the soundtrack to Dirty Dancing right now? ….Despite their speakers being off?
Fun fact: they made me sing “I’ve Had the Time of My Life” in concert with all the other kids during my grade five graduation. Contrary to what the song said, I did not have the time of my life in elementary school. Nor did I have the time of my life in middle school afterwards, wearing those button-fly jeans.
I wonder if Puck will put Phoebe in the corner?
Nobody puts Phoebe in the corner.
NOBODY PUTS PHOEBE IN THE CORNER!!!
Wait, someone already said that. DAMNIT!
*blinks* ok, so if THIS is what happens if you feed phoebe a couple candy cigarets, i don´t want to know what she´d do if you introduce her to donuts or twinkies
then again, wouldn´t it be cool if puck turns into phoebe´s ‘devil on the shoulder’ for a change and plies her with enough sugar to REALLY let her hair down for a change?
…i´m totally picturing a streaking phoebe here!
Somehow Phoebe streaking seems slightly less scandalous than the dress she’s already wearing.
Yeah, it’s not like anyone has ever fed Phoebe donuts before!
PHOEBE EATS DONUT.
Oh. Well, in my defense, this isn’t exactly a continuity error because I never showed what happened AFTER she ate that donut. And who knows? Maybe that crueler isn’t glazed.
I kind of always assumed so, since it doesn’t have any highlights. It made me question Phoebe’s sense of taste that she would eat such a dry, tasteless thing.
Well, now we know why.
It’s possible I may regret this comment based on what happens next strip, but I got a really dumb question.
What exactly is Pheobe doing that is so inconsistent with her being a kind, caring individual that spends most of her time helping others?
You can argue she’s setting a bad, promiscuous example for the kids, but let’s be honest. That argument was won the moment she put on that dress (or anything else she wears, for that matter!).
Does everyone else besides me think that caring about others means you can’t have a little fun yourself?
She is doing nothing that is inconsistent with her being a kind, caring individual. And she will do nothing inconsistent with her character in the coming comics. Nothing can turn Phoebe into a cruel or vindictive person, not even sugar. But her inhibitions are gone and that may result in some outlandish behavior. From my experience, good, kind-hearted people like Phoebe end up usually only hurting themselves when they get out of hand. Other people are pretty safe.
Well, if it’s a choice between this and slashing someone’s tires, I say…
“Go Pheobe!!!!”
It’s positive energy, man!
Ain’t half the jeans sold button-fly ?
I know that half of mine are and those I see in shops too
Oh that’s right, she’s in this comic.
Heh.
You know, Phoebe’s gone through some very strong tonal shifts here at the prom. I guess she really needed this. 🙂
It’s nice to see the kids are impressed. Tyler won’t be, but the rest are.
Kids know ‘cool’ when they see it, man.
So long as they’re not personally connected to it. 😀
Yeah, this is what’s called “Gecko juggles one too many balls.” I’ve got a three ring circus going on, and a weekly update schedule, which means it’s really easy to go two and a half months without seeing a character, even though said character is an active part of the story arc. (I did that with Puck recently. From January to May, the titular character of the comic only appeared once in a minor aside.) Then you get this sort of thing: Daphne sits down and has a conversation with Puck. The conversation lasts a whole month, even though it’s a pretty short one.
I’ve resigned myself to the fact that the system is broken.
You could always write a novel.
But in my mind, Phoebe really does find this weird, even if she doesn’t know it, especially since Daph’s nemesis turned out to be a nice blind girl. So can’t find her feet. So she’s one thing with Daph, one thing with Tyler and now she gets to be another. So I’m not bothered. I figure something subtle is going on in that fashion-designing head and when she gets a chance, it’ll all come out in her knitting and she’ll figure out how she feels.
Dinna fash’ yerself, Gecko. There are still kids today that love “Dirty Dancing. They just watch it on YouTube and Netflix. (I hear it’s an excellent choice for “Netflix and chill”.)
Perhaps. The kids today fixate on odd offerings through their streaming services. For instance, a large number of my students have a weird obsession with the show “Friends”. Speaking personally, it was never a show I liked, so the fact that it’s making cultural ripples two decades later is … odd to me.
It’s odd to me the effect it had 20 years ago.
I guess it was experimental in its way. How many livestock fowl can you have on stage? What if you switch apartment? What if you’re on a break? Astonishing.
I now see clearly that I am quite possibly the oldest person here. I read “middle school” and “grade school” in reference to the 80s and I thought “Wait, what?” For the record, high school means the 70s for me. I was teaching by the late 80s.
You are not the oldest here. In honesty, if I can go by the profile pics of Facebook followers, this comic has a rather large following in the 50+ demographic.
Trust me, Paul, you aren’t the oldest guy here. I go back far enough that “middle school” wasn’t a thing – we had “junior high”.
That’s sometimes a regional thing. Even around here, some boards still use the term “junior high”. I actually prefer it. Reminds me of Degrassi.
I was just using the terminology of the previous posts. I actually went to a grade school which was 1st through 8th grade and then high school which was 9th through 12th. They were known as primary and secondary school.
Yeah, same here. It’s primary then secondary. Most primary schools run grades 1 to 8 here, but there are some that are divided into a 1-5 school and a 6-8 school. I went to one of those. It was awful. That’s middle school. Or junior high. Or whatever. It’s a terrible idea.
You’d be surprised at what the kids know. My daughter’s 22, spends her time watching video game videos on YouTube, plays Minecraft, and runs her own Discord server. She’s watched few movies and no TV (we haven’t had cable since 1995.)
And yet, I’ll reference “Casablanca,” and she’ll say, “Yeah, I know that,” and I’m all like, “How the hell?–” and she’ll describe scenes from the animated gifs on Tumblr.
Kids these days…
Your observation agrees with mine. They spend very little time actually consuming media in its raw form. TV shows and movies are not what they consume. They do, however, consume a lot of meme-centric Youtube content that is often full of references to classic works of pop culture. So they don’t know much of anything in depth, but they do glean a broad wash of familiarity.
Hey, it gets the party started. Looking at them, that’s a strangely good pairing. I wonder how Daddy Satan will feel about his little girl dating the head Shnorf. . . . . I figure there’s a good chance he’ll already be ordering the wedding dress and preparing Tracee for grandma duties . . . . . eek. Imagine the shriek. Ear-drums from Hamilton to Halifax will break.
[demarion]:
… & Papa Satan will gain an ‘inside-track’ to all kinds of “Shnorf”-memorabilia.
#i’mJustSayin’
It is a strange pairing. Not sure whether it’s a strangely good pairing or not.
The pairing looks strangely good. Looks. Is . . . . . . . . . . . jury’s still out. Eh, Puck and Colin works, next to that Phoebe and Papa Shnorf is conventional.
I suppose you’re right. Convention bedamned!
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Papa already taken?
Papa is not the monogamous relationship type. So one could say he is already taken by a bunch of women.
Ah, but how will Phoebe take that if she wants to get serious?
Which is why it can’t really work.
I was born in 1976, so the 80s were my formative years. I’ve never actually seen Dirty Dancing, though, but I *am* familiar with that scene (and *only* that scene) through seeing homages/parodies of it in more recent movies like Crazy Stupid Love.
I think I have only seen parts on TV in all honesty. I’m just a little younger than you and the movie was certainly not targeting my demographic.
So, give a girl some sugar. Kind of changes the dynamic of “Pour some sugar on me” doesn’t it?
But it was only Phoebe who gave herself the candy cigarette, so, she knows what it takes to cut loose and when to do so?
So, what if some guy gives her a red cup full of cherry kool-aid?
Never drink the Kool-aid. Even Phoebe knows that.
So, if Satan gives a gum drop to Phoebe (as a reward for doing her chores); does that make him a…
Sugar Daddy?
Groan.
*gives the slow clap of death*
PAPA AND PHOEBE RULE!!!
🙂
They do rule! All they need are crowns!
Congratulations on being the #7 strip. Personally, I believe yours is better than the others on that list. AND…it bears repeating: Hummina Hummina Hummina Phoebe!
I think I was #7 on TWC for only about two minutes. Now it’s back in the twenties slums where I belong.
Once upon a time, in my more popular days, I could stay I the top ten all month. No longer, alas.
Wao!!!
Well, I guess when (if) Papa Snorf is ever unmasked, there’ll not be a ninety-pound weakling inside.
Hey, some seemingly weak guys with small builds have deceptive strength!
@EG
“Hey, some seemingly weak guys with small builds have deceptive strength!”
You’ve been reading too many Comic Books.
Okay, real life example: one would not, from his stature or build, assume Bruce Lee was a guy that could kick you across a room – especially with his shirt on.
In real life, I have also seen many guys who work tough, physically demanding jobs who look thin and wiry, but have incredible strength. I once had a landscaper doing some work on my house. He was pushing sixty and probably weighed no more than 150 pounds. Then I saw him pick up three railway ties like they were made of styrofoam. It was freaky.
Well he’d have to be strong to lug that hot, sweaty suit around, foam rubber or no.
Exactly.
I’m holding out for Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights
We won’t talk of that abomination.
Is that the one with John Lovitz?
Those two (Phoebe and Papa) make a really cute couple. Please don’t make this a one prom fling!
No promises.
If they do start dating, never unmask him. Keep it silly.
I promise you this: Papa Shnorf will never be unmasked in the comic. Characters might see him unmasked, perhaps, but we will NEVER see him unmasked.
Does…does Phoebe get drunk… on SUGAR????
You don’t get drunk on sugar. You get HIGH on sugar. It’s a stimulant. I imagine that Phoebe’s reaction to sugar is like most people’s, only times two thousand. So, like most four year-olds and sugar.
They’re not cancer sticks — they’re DANCER sticks!
I hope she sticks the landing.
How does one eat candy cigarrettes, anyhow? I’ve never even seen one.
They’re made of the same stuff they make those candy hearts out of – the ones that say “Be mine” and stuff like that. You just eat them.
you know i don’t recall seeing Phoebe having fun before. It could well be my memory is fading or I misssed something.
This is a bit of a return to old school form for Phoebe. Though we didn’t see much of it directly, it was understood that in her university years she spent a lot of time partying it up, what with her love of dance music. Though you are right that we’ve never directly observed this sort of thing.
Along with all the usual party accouterments, or is that just something she was always too innocent for?
I think Phoebe is there strictly for the party, not for the substances.
Well you have to admit, “fun” and “Satan’s daughter” would appear to be mutually exclusive.
How?!?
Satan’s Daughter’s idea of fun might be quite a bit different from an ordinary person’s idea of fun. Satan after all is not supposed to be good.
Yeah, but in the traditional medieval Catholic construct (where most of our ideas surrounding Satan come from) almost all the things we consider fun are most resoundingly sinful. I feel like Satan would throw amazing parties.
My oldest references are the SEGA Mega Drive and video tapes. Perhaps music cassettes too
That was high school for me. Good times.
That’s not dirty dancing…that’s competitive ball room. Mind when we went dirty dancing as a kid, my parents generation called “dry humping”. kids these days are such square lame-o-rama babies. 😉 Off to drive by the stop-n-shop.
Well, the dancing in the movie “Dirty Dancing” wasn’t particularly dirty either. Yeah, I’d say “competitive ballroom” would be the better description. But honestly, kids today don’t know how to dance, especially as couples. The last few proms I’ve attended, the guys don’t even dance with the girls. All the guys gather together into this goofy ‘bro mosh’ and they just jump around and act like morons. The girls, meanwhile, hover on the periphery and try not to get hurt while dancing with the other girls. It’s … bizarre. So in today’s landscape, any form of contact between the girl and guy when dancing is actually kind of surprising.
At a company Christmas party, the CEO got up and talked for twenty minutes, mostly about himself. He concluded with “we’re creating moments in time…for the time of your life.” Then he cued the music.
That’s the time of your life that you get a different job.
I admire the graceful curve of Phoebe’s tail in panel three. She sure has a lot of style! 🙂
And a lot of graceful curves. 😉