Michael is an idiot!-For Better Or For Worse 12/21

[Baker]

So it looks like there's a fire in the apartment house where Michael, Deanna and the kids live. (My guess is the unfriendly neighbor downstairs, who smokes cigars, started it) So they get the kids up and out and Michael goes back in! And for what? His just completed book manuscript!

http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/

Sheesh, I know it's been hard work, but he's got a wife and two kids that need him, and nothing material like that is so important as to put yourself back into danger like that. He did the book once, he can do it over.

I want him to get hurt just enough to realize how stupid he is being.

[El Perro Fumando]

Ditto.

I for one am too distracted by the fact that the characters are blinking in the comic strip.

[singular1]

Ditto.

I for one am too distracted by the fact that the characters are blinking in the comic strip.

When the hell did that start? That's horrible!!!!

[DSYoungEsq]

When the hell did that start? That's horrible!!!!
Happens on line. Sometimes shadow characters in the background move, too. Ick.

[RikWriter]

Back when I was at Infantry Officer's Basic Course at Ft Benning, GA, I was putting the finishing touches on a science fiction novel I'd been writing for 3 years. This being before computers were cheap and ubiquitous, and me being a poor typist, I was HAND-WRITING this novel. When I checked out of the BOQ at Benning and headed home for Christmas pursuant to going off to my duty station in Hawaii, I somehow managed to leave the manuscript in the drawer of the nighstand at the BOQ. I realized it when I got home, but by then the housekeeping crew had thrown it out.
Words cannot describe the punch in the gut I felt when I realized it was gone.
I'd make sure my family was safely outside, then I'd go back in the attic. (Of course, I'd have the fucking thing backed up on a flash drive and would have stuck it in my pocket the minute I knew there was a fire, but that's another argument.)

[Exapno Mapcase]

Isn't she planning to end the strip next year? Maybe she's going to kill off the characters one by one!

[Lute Skywatcher]

She's decided to end the daily strips, yes, but sounds like the Sunday strips will continue.

[Larry Borgia]

I agree with Rikwriter. It may be stupid, but I'd probably go back for it.

[Eve]

(Of course, I'd have the fucking thing backed up on a flash drive and would have stuck it in my pocket the minute I knew there was a fire, but that's another argument.)Ditto. That's why I have copies of my current book (and JPEGs of the photos) on my home computer, my work computer, and two zip drives. Not too neurotic . . .

[FisherQueen]

My novel was backed up daily online. Sure, it's not a GOOD novel, but at least it won't be destroyed in a housefire.

[Ceejaytee]

Plot line stolen from The Waltons, where John Boy has just finished his first novel and promptly sets his house on fire. Manuscript is burnt to a crisp and John Boy has to come to grips with starting all over again, when he just wants to quit. Of course, he rewrites it, it's even better than the original, and all is happiness again.

Oh, yeah. Mike's an idiot.

[Malienation]

C'mon, there's no visible flames, just a little smoke. He's going alone, quickly. How long could it take to pop in and grab the damn thing? Even if by some stroke of bad luck he got trapped inside, he just lives on the second floor. He could easily escape through a window.

[Askia]

Mike may be either foolhardy or brash, but he's not an idiot.

He got his wife and kids out first. Now he's taking a risk to get some very important papers. It's a fire in a unit above his apartment. Flames and smoke go UP. Assuming the fire hasn't eaten through the floor yet, he should be able to dash in, grab his stuff and get back out.

"Take calculated risks. This is quite different from being rash." George S. Patton.

[Rilchiam]

He's an idiot. Smoke can overwhelm you long before the flames get to you. And his wife and kids aren't "out" yet; they still have to go down that rickety fire escape.

And he's an editor. Surely he knows how to save his files.

[Bryan Ekers]

And he's an editor. Surely he knows how to save his files.
Sure, but the laptop and the printed copy are still upstairs, as evidenced by him not carrying either when he came down and first discovered the smoke. It should take him at most a few seconds to grab the computer. Actually, he could have done so easily while talking on the (apparently cordless) phone.

Comic-strip tragedy being what it is, though, I bet the family will survive but the manuscript will not.

My own plan for a fire is to just grab my whole computer, rip out all the cables and go. I could even toss out the window if necessary, hoping that the tower's frame will protect the hard drives. Michael could do that if need be; just wing the laptop through a window like a Frisbee and hope for the best.

[Askia]

Oh, wait. I misread the OP and didn't click on the strip. The DOWNSTAIRS neighbor started the fire, Mike and his family live ABOVE the fire. Plus, he's going in the attic? That's a who-o-oole lot riskier.

Okay, okay. Y'all are right, i'm wrong. He's an idiot!

[Baker]

Actually, we don't know how the fire has started. In the OP I have simply assumed it's coming from downstairs, likely the nasty neighbor who smokes. Still, being resident on the second floor, with no evidence of fire in their place, it's likely coming from downstairs, so he's going above the fire.

I hope the landlady gets out ok.

[Rhiannon8404]

I hope the landlady gets out ok.That's what I was thinking. She so nice. A totally minor character, but one I like.

[BiblioCat]

I'm betting on someone dying, either one of the nasty neighbors or the nice landlady. Lynne Johnston doesn't hold back.

[silenus]

Nah. Michael will hear one of the neighbors choking on the smoke and have to make the decision to rescue either his manuscript, or someone he hates. He will do the right thing, and bitch about what he has lost, until his wife and kids remind him of what he has saved. Much more treacle-y that way.

[burundi]

I hope Deanna kicks his ass. I would be so mad if my husband pulled that.

[colbeagle]

Some enterprising reader over on one of the foob livejournal communities posted links to the January letters from the characters, so if you want to know what happens next . . .

(spoilers!)

Mike runs upstairs to get his laptop and manuscript (despite the fact that Elly apparently had hard copies of all but the last chapter) but is overwhelmed by smoke on the way back out, collapses, and needs to be rescued by firefighters and treated for smoke inhalation. Meanwhile, Deanna has to abandon the photo albums and kid's blankets she was carrying in order to get Robin down the stairs, and then wait outside the burning building wondering if her husband will live. She apparently chews him out later for this particularly assholish behavior.

The evil downstairs neighbors suffered more severe injuries, but that's okay because they started the fire with their cigars and their booze.

Mike and Co. move back in with Elly and John, after reluctantly telling Deanna's annoying parents what's going on (for 'family politics' reasons, instead of, you know, because informing your parents when your house burns down is something normal people do), and they have the happy family Christmas we've all been expecting, except for Grandpa Jim and Iris, who dis-invite themselves so they won't cause any extra stress for anyone, what with their needy post-stroke lifestyle.

Nobody dies. Mike certainly doesn't do anything noble.

The actual strips aren't available, so I don't know how much of that will actually play out in the newspapers (maybe it's a fake spoiler to throw off the snarkers! intrigue!), but I'd image they include a lot of punnish declarations about the importance of family.

It should be noted that almost every feature of this particular storyline was predicted over a year and a half ago on the livejournal snark communities. Foob isn't particularly big on subtlety.

[rocking chair]

i'm betting that mike and deanna will end up somehow (buying/coming to some sort of agreement on) in mike's family home.

elly and john will end up in the wee house john has been eyeing for the last few years.

all will live happily ever after.

[Rilchiam]

Yeah, and Mike collapses from smoke inhalation, but all it takes to make him better is a whiff of oxygen and a few hours in the hospital?

[Baker]

In today's strip, 12/22, the fireman has it right. "Some things just aren't worth dying for"

[Jonathan Chance]

Although I will admit it's a bit of comica verite in that I know several writers which would have as their first instinct just what he's done here.

[RikWriter]

Spoilers were wrong---he made it out with the laptop.

[Rhiannon8404]

And he didn't collapse. He saved his novel, but lost the photo albums. I guess that's Ok, Grandma and Grandpa probably have duplicates of all the important holidays like birthdays and Christmases.

[Gatopescado]

WTF? You all realize this is a comic strip, don't ya?

[Aunt Flow]

WTF? You all realize this is a comic strip, don't ya?


Whaaat? :( But...they answered the postcard I sent them. And....and they have a blog! Only real people have a blog! And they age! Comics don't age! Only people! I won't listen to this blasphemy! *covers ears*

[RikWriter]

WTF? You all realize this is a comic strip, don't ya?

Sure do. Just like Lost is just a TV show. But people talk about the characters anyway. Maybe you're lost? After all, this is Cafe Society right?

[susan]

Y'all shure that the person referred to in today's strip is Michael, and not Mr Kelpfroth?

[Caractacus Pott]

Foob isn't particularly big on subtlety.
Colbeagle, who or what is Foob? Is it an acronym? In differing contexts, the term appears to have different meanings. My Googlefu must be weak as I couldn't find a definition, just many, many examples of that pejorative being used.

[don't ask]

Of course Michael is an idiot, if he was smart he would have got a gig in a better comic strip.

[chrisk]

Colbeagle, who or what is Foob? Is it an acronym? In differing contexts, the term appears to have different meanings. My Googlefu must be weak as I couldn't find a definition, just many, many examples of that pejorative being used.

I'm not sure of the derivation, but I've assumed from context that it's a nickname for the strip author, Lynn Johnston. If you've seen contexts that that doesn't fit, well I dunno.

[don't ask]

I'd say from looking in Google that FOOB refers to the strip. This kind of thing (http://community.livejournal.com/binky_betsy/)

[don't ask]

And here (http://livebythefoma.blogspot.com/2005/09/history-of-foobiverse-part-1.html) is a history of the FOOBiverse.

[Rilchiam]

Colbeagle, who or what is Foob? Is it an acronym? In differing contexts, the term appears to have different meanings. My Googlefu must be weak as I couldn't find a definition, just many, many examples of that pejorative being used.

Lynn Johnston prefers to make up slang, rather than use terms that will become outdated. In these (http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000113.php) strips (http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000114.php), we see how well she succeeds. (What 13 y/o girl, nowadays, even knows that the word "boob" refers to anything besides a breast?)

Over time, comics sites began using FOOB to refer to the strip itself, since it's close to the acronym FBOFW. The characters themselves can often well be described as foobs, and the strip universe is known as FOOBiverse, FOOBonia, or FOOBistan.

[pesch]

Foob came from the strip itself. Awhile back, April and her friends were slamming their schoolmates using teen slang like foob and roadside. Foob is supposed to be a combo of "fool" and "boob" and "roadside" means slut. ("She's totally roadside, man").

Over at the Comics Curmudgeon blog, there was some confusion about the words. No one had ever heard teens use them. Even the Canadian readers were puzzled. Some bright eyes got the idea to e-mail the FBOFW web site, and in return, a staffer said that Lynn had made them up.

An offering of the gods was too good to pass up, and so "Foob" was applied to the strip, its cast, and just about anything in the FBOFW universe that's annoying.

[pesch]

Jeez, Rilchiam, did you have those links memorized?

[Caractacus Pott]

Rilchiam, Pesch, Don't Ask,

Thanks for the history lesson. Ignorance fought and overcome.

[colbeagle]

Colbeagle, who or what is Foob?

Um, yeah. What they said. Sorry!

As for the spoilers . . .

Unfortunately, the links to the January letters seem to be broken, so the FBOFW.com people must have figured it out and moved everything. Or maybe they were fake. Or first drafts. I think it's probable that they're real but only kinda gibe with what we see in the strip - the monthly letters aren't called 'retcons' on the livejournal communities for no reason.

But in Mike's letter, he did state that he almost got back out but felt himself falling, and then was hauled outside and revived, which I guess fits with the strip, if we assume that he collapsed into the fireman's arms between being found in the first panel and being carried down the fire escape in the second panel. The laptop and manuscript survived in the spoilers - he says in the letter that they're sitting on the kitchen table while he angsts about putting that one chapter of his book ahead of his family.