Letters to the Editor
andersonic
Published Letters: 11
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"It was Burning Man, this happens."
[Read the article: What should I say to my husband?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Nice way to shuck off all personal responsibility there. You make choices and face consequences at Burning Man just like anywhere else.
It's like listening to Dr. Drew. "One thing led to another, and we ended up having sex." Oops, how did that get in there?
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Simple mistakes compounded
[Read the article: Who's to blame for James Kim's death?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Everyone faces situations they are unprepared for. Be glad if it doesn't kill you.
There is no need to heap opprobrium on the Kims. You can criticize their bad decisions, but they're hardly the first or last urbanites to be unaware of how deadly a mountain road in winter can be. Cars and road trips are part of our familiar world in which nothing usually goes terribly wrong. This time simple mistakes compounded drastically.
Blame the fact that they didn't know all the common sense now being stated here. There is no standard point at which every person is instructed in crossing mountains and snow survival.
The silver lining is that these public tragedies inoculate the population with awareness. Millions who followed this story are likely to now do their interstate road travel more safely and better prepared.
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Not minimalist
[Read the article: Tom the Dancing Bug]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just a mistake, they're showing the two panel "preview" that non-subscribers get. The full comic is at
http://www.salon.com/comics/boll/2007/03/15/boll/story.gif
Hopefully they'll correct the page and remove our posts.
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Yes yes yes...
[Read the article: Opus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Like Ken said, today no longer sucks. I'm home with a rotten cold while two long awaited reunions happen without me. Having Opus show up is sweet compensation.
Thank you Berke, thank you Salon.
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Response bias isn't all bad
[Read the article: Why a five-star restaurant serves one-star food]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In many cases reviewers should have the same bias as anyone to whom they'd be useful.
For example, suppose I were a fan of Jason Mraz and was interested in buying his new album. I wouldn't want to know what a random person on the street thought of it, let alone someone who thought Jason Mraz was crap. I'd want to know what other Jason Mraz fans thought, with expectations much like my own.
The album could be the darling of press critics but lividly distasteful to fans of his old material. Or vice versa. For anyone already interested in making a purchase, the biased reviews are the valuable ones.
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Love the artwork too
[Read the article: Opus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This strip has so many little examples of how comic art attains greatness.
The composition of the opening panel, where the bridge's curve follows the conversation trajectory from Steve's peevish question down, plonk, to Opus' rejoinder.
The simple purple silhouette for "I am. Have one!" Needs no more than the tilts of Opus' eyes and head.
Then the bottom three. Opus hops into the inner tube, puts the basket on his head, and torpedoes after the peaches in one swift image. A silent moment of ginger peach retrieval. And Steve's marginal finger sending us, shwoop, to the foreground of a settled Opus whose lilypad hat is losing its frog.
And yet it looks easy. Some comment posters should only learn to convey so much with so little.
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Classic sunday style
[Read the article: Opus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'll skip the actual subject and again call out Breathed's cartoonist brilliance. Opus has a whole little story of his own behind the conversation:
- Opus, in mask and snorkel, takes point on the boat
- Opus submerges his head
- Opus comes up with a company of frogs
What exactly just happened there? What's Opus thinking behind that mask?
Thanks goodness someone's keeping up the classic art of a Sunday comic.
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Classic sunday style
[Read the article: Opus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'll skip the actual subject and again call out Breathed's cartoonist brilliance. Opus has a whole little story of his own behind the conversation:
- Opus, in mask and snorkel, takes point on the boat
- Opus submerges his head
- Opus comes up with a company of frogs
What exactly just happened there? What's Opus thinking behind that mask?
Thanks goodness someone's keeping up the classic art of a Sunday comic.
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Biobags are underrated
[Read the article: Plastic bags are killing us]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Good on Salon for a little field journalism, even if it's in their own back yard.
Durable canvas bags are terrific if you have them when you need them, but they don't help with (for example) packing up produce to travel safely home and not dry out.
If you live in the right area -- the Bay area is one -- it's actually very easy to buy a roll of starch-based Biobags and have some handy whenever you go shopping. They're both re-usable and compostable. Right now they cost more if you don't factor the long-term expenses, but really the word needs to get out that it's fairly simple to NOT accumulate plastic bags when you grocery shop.
One caveat, Biobags aren't a perfect replacement for plastic. For example, they're not watertight, so don't work as can liners for anything but dry garbage. But if you have compost collection where you live your garbage is likely to be, in fact, dry.
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Anonymous
[Read the article: WayLay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Um, did you actually read the strip? Notice the woman's black eye after she swears on the lock?
Or do you consider escaping physical abuse 'infidelity'? Let me guess - you're sore that the state garnishes your wages for the women who left you after you hit them.
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Awooooo
[Read the article: WayLay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That is so sweet. Sometimes Carol Lay whips out a gem.
No punch line Peter. WayLay is storytelling.