I’ve been reading athis one for a few years now-it is really about the most bizarre comic strip since “Hermann” by Unger. Zip seems to delve into very philosophical persuits-he is currently in a dialogue with an animated dog head sign (from the “Doggy Diner”-somewhere near S Francisco). Does anybody know anything about tyhe guy who writes this strip-he must be really weird!
Anyway-does the “Dogy Diner” really exist?
Doggy Diner.
Doggy Diner.
Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner. Doggy Diner.
You know, John Deer garden tractors never question the reality of the Dogy Diner, nor do they mispell the word ‘the’ in their posts. They are happy just giving haircuts to grass and repressing the rights of dandelions.
This reminds me of a story…
I once knew a small tomcat who wanted to be Prime Minister of South Korea. The only problem was that South Korea does not have a position for prime minister. So this cat became Prime Minister of France, kept the job for 42 days to see if he really liked being a prime minister, then defected to South Korea. Now he’s the the Prime Minister of South Korea, even if he isn’t the South Korean Prime Minister. He’s very happy there. Many of friends moved to Seoul to wish him a happy birthday, but I couldn’t, because I had to do the laundry.
How long before this is bumped to Great Debates? Oh, Lord, how long?
Bill Griffith has been an underground cartoonist since 1969, starting out in his native New York and moving to San Francisco in 1970. During the '70s, he and Art Speigelman co-edited ARCADE, one of the all-time great underground comix publications.
I’m not sure just when “Zippy” achieved newspaper syndication, or how this impacted Mr. Griffith’s reputation as a funky revolutionary type.
You can learn more at http://www.zippythepinhead.com
Bill Griffith has been doing comics for years - I’ve seen large parts of his work and for sure it’s a healthy mix of flights of fancy bordering on the bizarre. (One memorable book featured two Zippies in a traveling commedia dell’arte troupe in Renaissance Italy.
I don’t know much about him but a quick look in Google got me an [url=“http://www.sonic.net/~goblin/zhead.html”]interview* .
As for the Doggie Diner… yes, Virginia, the damn thing does exist. I spent a week or so in SF back in 1997 visiting someone I hoped would be more than a friend… we spent several afternoons just driving around seeing the sights, and lo and behold there indeed was the Doggie Head, smiling benevolently down upon us from on high. Damn if I can remember what intersection it was at, but it was mindblowing nonetheless. Wasn’t as big as it seemed in the strip, either.
Well, fold me five ways and send me soaring. I shoulda previewed my reply before I sent it. I know VBB, honest I do! So here’s that interview .
http://www.sfgate.com/sf/zippy/
for a daily dose. It’s the main reason I come to work. I’m actually independantly wealthy but don’t own a computer.
I have a Zippy book which has an intro for a few pages of just Bill in the comic strip talking about himself. It gives you a little insight into who he is and his frustrations with writing material that goes over the heads of mindless millions.
If I remember, I’ll bring it with me tomorrow and update the thread, (I haven’t read it in awhile).
I’ll say I like Zippy a lot; it is one thing that’s impossible to explain unless you’ve seen it.
One of the most hilarious things EVER is having fun with
the “Zippy meets meta-html” page at :
http://www.metahtml.com/apps/zippy/welcome.mhtml
Go there, and then go to the straight dope page. Read one of Cecil’s columns. If you’re lucky, you’ll die laughing. (You’ll have to save the good ones since it’s a random selection of lines.) Also read some of the comments they’ve gotten from people who understand neither meta-html nor Zippy.
Question for mods : Would it be acceptable to put up some of a zippy-fied Cecil column here? Who owns the copyright, considering it’s a random process of sorts modifying already copyrighted material?
As for the Doggie Diner, it does exist (sort of). From what I know, the original Doggie Diners are no more. One or towo of the heads does still exist, and there is one actually in front of one of the diners, but it’s operated by someone else. It’s on Sloat & ?(prob. 45th or 48th), just a few blocks up from the beach. (You can also take Lake Merced from 19th and veer left at some point). There’s a store on 8th & Irving (called Wishbone) that sells Doggie Diner paraphen- paraphran- stuff. Maybe I’ll go by there on my lunch break and see what they have.
panama jack
gabba gabba
native San Franciscan speaking here…
The dogie diner is definetly a landmark around here. In fact there is a whol campaign to save it. read more here.
http://www.examiner.com/990514/0514diner.shtml
I’m going to a benefit on the 15th to raise money for the campaign.
I avoid this strip at all costs.
Zippy scares me.