SIMONF

Beyond the rim of the starlight, 
my love is wandring in star-flight. 
I know he’ll find
In star clustered reaches,
Love, strange love 
A starwoman teaches. 

I know his journey ends never. 
His Star Trek will go on forever. 
But tell him while 
He wanders his starry sea, 

Remember, 
Remember me. 

Marmaduke finds an imp behind Phil’s chair. An imp. So,

1. Marmaduke sees imps everywhere. A commentary on why dogs bark at nothing.
2. Marmaduke isn’t crazy, and Phil is about to have his scalp ripped off by a creature of the deep.

If you have more than one valentine in mind you’re a slut anyway, so,

We sat in silence for a while. Outside, it began to snow.

“Have you ever loved anyone?”

I told her briefly about Ludefisk, my girlfriend from second semester freshman year. She smiled at me.

“And you loved her?” I said that I think I did. She nodded. Lit another cigarette. We sat in silence for a while. Then, as if a lighter came under overhead sprinklers, we both began weeping.

“I don’t even know what’s on TV anymore,” she said.

“No. Me neither. When’s the last time you ate bread?”

“I can’t remember.”

link.

16. Mr. Benjamin Briefgrunts, a down-digger
39. Mr. Thaddeus Tunneldump, a shallows-man
78. Mr. Humus Carlos Humus, a fertilizer
82. Mr. Allen Wrigglequick, a pamphleteer
118. Mr. Edmund Tightcorner-Mudhollow, a mud philosopher
125. Mr. David Volemole-man, a volemonger
167. Miss Magnolia Undermagnolia, a mole-woman of two worlds
247. Mr. Harry Boulderchoke, a speculator in semiprecious and absolutely unprecious stones
375. Mr. Dean Muckhollow, a cave tester
545. The Marquis de Giant-firefly, a hedonist

- John Hodgman, More Information Than You Require. 

Darvee [dar•vee]

Noun.

A feeling of distress and vexation arising from the inability to dress one’s self:

1. “”What’ll I do with myself?” Cried Daisy, a great darvee in her voice. “And the day after that, and the next thirty years?” The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, April 10th 1925.
2. “Here we are beginning to catch a faint glimpse of the highly intricate darvee raised by the problem of dressing in strange and terrible things.”Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of Comic, Henri Bergson, June 5th, 1900.

Derivatives

Darveenaut  [dar•vee•not] noun
One who immerses one’s self in the sensation of darvee to explore the cause of paralysis at the hands of dressing.

Origin

From the Cornish deea drannin-‘can’t be dressed’ and late Pictish veeta driks jorda-‘can’t dress myself.’

Brad Anderson is almost always working with three distinct gimmicks. These are the gimmicks:

1. Marmaduke is a large dog.
2. Marmaduke is hungry.
3. Marmaduke, on occasion, thinks he’s people.

There is a guest-starring fourth gimmick. It is Marmaduke likes/buries bones. Usually this is just to show how large he is, as his bone collection is vast beyond measure.

In today’s strip, Marmaduke is baffling the Man-Neighbour by bearing his teeth. Perhaps the Neighbour is baffled because the bearing of teeth is a show of aggression for dogs, and yet here he is with his eyes closed and his neck exposed. I believe the intended joke is that Marmaduke, because he is a large dog, has a massive, mesmerizing smile. We know that Marmaduke thinks he’s people, so we can say with certainty that he is also proud of his new white teeth. Here, Marmaduke is aware of his grandeur.

• read today’s marmaduke
• google each track of a playlist given to me with zero meta-data
• pick up groceries
  • grapefruits, bagged
  • bagels, bagged
  • fancy bagel spread
  • potatoes?
    • count current potato stock first
  • some kind of hot sauce
  • give bakery girl her note
    • courage, simon
• workshop at least 3 poems, and start the fiction brainstorm
• finish watching braveheart

Marmaduke wakes his neighbours by breaking into their yard and howling at the night sky.

Man neighbour attempts to engage his wife in a philosophical discussion.

• 1989. I am three. I watch The Fox and the Hound. The fox becomes my favourite animal.
• 1992. I see a red-tailed hawk in the sky. It’s large for a bird, but like the fox it’s a secondary hunter, when you think about sky-based predators. This is appealing to me.
• 1998. I am twelve. I receive a book for Christmas about Cobras. Also, I see Jurassic Park, and the spitting dinosaurs. Spitting appeals to me.
• 2002. I am 16, and the pressure to plan for my future helps me to develop a fixation with animals that seem to live a life of leisure. So, the three-toed sloth.
• 2005. I am 19. I am Ahab. I become preoccupied with Arapaima gigas, the largest fresh water fish in the world. It remains my favourite animal to this day.