Friday, August 04, 2006

Mat mulls things over

Sometimes Mat's gotta get in touch with her innerself... like "mother" like "daughter," i guess... She can't contemplate her navel, but i caught her with this look of deep introspection near a naval base last week. Does that count?

I don't know when my dear deaf dog's b'day is but i'm guessing it's near mine. Only a Piscean could appear this pensive on a beautiful day at the beach...

This is really odd timing, just saw this in San Diego's "Reader," a weekly alternative newspaper/magazine that comes out on Thursdays. Dan Piraro was here recently, if you can believe that!

http://www.sdreader.com/published/current/crasher.html

This is an excerpt from the above link:

One cartoonist looked a bit like Elvis Costello, and I asked him who he was. I freaked when I found out it was Dan Piraro, who does Bizarro.

I told him I loved his strip, and that I think he's funnier than Gary Larson ( The Far Side ). I said I thought Larson was overrated, and he replied, "I agree with you. I enjoy reading his stuff, but it just seems like a lot of it just has... mass appeal."

But Larson has millions. We don't.

Piraro got up to speak and said, "I didn't even know I was going to be a guest speaker until I saw it listed on the program." He talked about marrying his wife after only dating for three months. When I saw her arms had tattoos, I asked if Piraro drew any of them. She pointed to two that he did (one being a heart, a real heart, which looked freaky).

I said, "Your parents must love the fact that you married a cartoonist."

She laughed and said, "My dad is a cartoonist -- Ralph Smith, who does Through Thick and Thin. And my stepfather (Chris Browne) does Hagar the Horrible (his late father Dik Browne's creation). I was always around people in this business, so it was no surprise I married a cartoonist."

When Piraro was drawing on the kid's shirt, I asked what the weirdest thing was he's ever drawn on. "A pregnant woman's belly."

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awwwwww, that's a great picture. She really does look lost in deep thought. Give your dog a pet for me. If I get anywhere near a dog, my allergies goes berserk. It's not fair. At least I can come to your blog and see your adorable dog :)

pinknest said...

that look of introspection is priceless!

urban vegan said...

What she's really thinking:

"If only people lived like us dogs, then there would be world peace."

Dori said...

Mat's expression reminds me of our dog. Sometimes I look into her eyes and it is like she has a human like expression, concern, care.... in trouble :o), etc. Nice pix!

Anonymous said...

What an expression. Great picture. :)

Carrie™ said...

Don't you wish they could tell us what they're thinking? Some mornings when I'm getting ready for work, Simon follows me around with his head down looking totally dejected. I hate leaving and feel so guilty. But when I come home...oh boy! Such a welcome! I love my dog. I just wish he would live for 50 years and be able to tell me his thoughts.

Was Mattie always deaf, or has she just lost her hearing with age? When I used to have Dalmatians, a lady I met had a deaf one and it was totally trained with hand signals. If she couldn't get his attention, she would stamp her foot on the floor & the dog would feel the vibrations. It was quite amazing to watch them interact. How do you manage with Mattie? Just curious.

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

great timing on your dan post, kleo! i love & miss the reader - such a great rag. they used to have amazing 2 for 1 dinner coupons several years ago & we'd eat cheap. mattie looks so serious - wonder what she's thinking.

Jen said...

What a sweetheart!

The Lone Beader® said...

Love your dog:)

Anonymous said...

Aaaaaaugh Mattie, such a cutie and certainly looks to be contemplating more than just the next bowl of kibble. I knew she was a thinker....Huggs, G

PS Don't tell the Mitz I was talking nice about a dog, OK!!!

meesh said...

Thanks for your incredibly nice comment on my blog. :) That so made my day!

I added a link to your blog on mine today. I hope you don't mind.

What a great pic of your dog! My cat will do that staring into space thing a lot. I wonder if he's having deep thoughts, or just plotting his next attack on my dinner when I'm not looking.

Freedom said...

Mattie is such a sweetheart, you are so lucky to have each other!

Askazombiehousewife said...

Your little one sounds cute.

The cartoonist story was real cool.

MeloMeals said...

Don't you wish you could just BE your dog for a day? I want to know what they feel/think so much.. I kind of feel like I do know.. but there's the mystery.. we can never really know!

god, I am starting to sound like Rumsfeld.. the known unknowns and not knowing the known... hehe

karen said...

Kleo- you have the coolest experiences meeting people!!! I love Mattie, I just want to hug her!!! Can you do a post of how you work with Mattie since she can't hear you? Maybe a day in the life of Mattie?lol

Anonymous said...

Mattie is adorable. I like her contemplative expression. I love Bizzaro. My favorite is the one with the fat guy standing in front of the register at a fast food joint and he says, "I'll have the cruelly-tortured-for-it's-entire-life-kept-alive-with-drugs-slaughtered-inhumanely-processed-unsanitarily-and-cooked-at-very-high-temperatures-to-kill-the-salmonella-sandwich."

Kuntal Joisher said...

as usual yayyyyy!! for mattie.. and dan piraro rulesss... at native foods just near the special board they put up the cut-out of Bizzaro.. its so cool..

and yea u bet mattie is a piscean.. heheh.. Go Pisceans!!

Anonymous said...

Oh what a sweetie. The hosts at the pool party had a golden retriever. He gave my daughter and I big sloppy kisses.

I'm going to check out the comic strip. I'm familiar with Bizaroo.

Anonymous said...

Had to pop back by again... Everytime I see Mattie's picture in the comments section on someone else's blog, I just want to pull her through the screen and hug her. I am so in love with her sweet face and soulful expression. pleeeeease?.

Anonymous said...

What in the world just happened to my comments? Darn blogger (or maybe darn me). Anyway, just wanted to say give her lots of kisses for me pleeeeease!