Rusty
August 15, 2012 at 2:02 am
What does a Band Mom do? I don’t recall them having an actual role in this strip. Do they help with selling the fundraising turkeys? Do they play in the 4th of July concert in the gazebo? Do they attend band practice? I don’t get it.TheDiva
August 18, 2012 at 3:05 am
…Oh noez, Becky’s mom is going to be involved with the band! And that’s terrible! We haven’t seen her do a single thing yet, but we’ve just spent an entire week complaining about it so it must be bad!Señor Tortilla
August 20, 2012 at 12:57 am
Right now, I don’t see any reason to really hate Roberta…
Now do you see it? What I’m seeing is how Becky’s lack of a backbone enables Mom to turn her job and her life into a nonstop waking nightmare. That lift that the two of them are standing in: there’s no ladder or stairs. Becky had to allow Roberta onto the platform before hitting the “up” button. Becky’s “victim” status is hereby revoked.
The one tidbit of humor that can be gleaned from this strip is that the “young man” whom Roberta is picking on is, naturally, dopey Owen.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Outdoors in the middle of an August afternoon, underneath long shaggy hair and a well-knit chullo, Owen’s ears are burning. No kidding?
At least, she thinks that’s a young man hiding beneath that ridiculous chullo he uses to keep the hot August sun out of his eyes.
I like how Becky looks “surprised” to see her mother standing next to her in Panel 2. “Oh! I forgot we were up here together in this 3×4 enclosure in the sky. That is, I thought for sure I pushed you over the edge two strips ago.”
Obviously that particular model of hydraulic lift can safely be operated one-handed. Or so I have to assume. Too bad there aren’t any low-hanging high-voltage power lines around.
Becky: “Mother…”
Roberta: “Yes?”
Becky: “….”
Roberta: “You had something to say to me?”
Becky: “….”
Roberta: “You can roll your eyes, huff, and scream into a horn, but you can’t plain and simple talk to me, eh?”
Becky: “….”
Roberta: “For crying out loud! Lower this thing, let me off, call me when you figure yourself out!”
(Elsewhere)
Owen: “What do you MEAN, am I comfortable wearing a thick woolen cap in August? Of course I am!”
********************
Considering how putting down and bashing Owen was a favorite past-time of Becky a year or so back, I’m wondering why THIS is what she’s objecting to? It’s getting a much bigger reaction than the gay-bashing.
I’m just sayin’!
Well see, when Becky complains about how Owen never practices and can’t do anything right, she’s in the right because she’s the saintly put-upon band director. When Roberta complains about Owen screwing up, she’s a pushy busybody because Becky is the saintly put-upon band director. I hope that clears everything up.
While I’m sure aggravating band parents exist, I’ve never met a director that would suffer one to peer over his/her shoulder while he/she is directing, and any director that would suffer such an intrusion on their profession deserves exactly what they get.
“…that one young man down there…” Pretty vague, Mrs. Ugly McOldness. Plus, Becky can’t see where you’re pointing. So there’s no way for Becky to know who you’re bitching at. I’d say you’re failing at the supervillainess game.
“The option to override the automatic self-destruct sequence has now expired. ”
“Mother, I’ve turned the cooling unit back on! Mother!”
“You now have T-minus 5 five minutes to abandon ship.”
“Argh, you BITCH!”
(Just thought I’d post a far more realistic “mother” – “daughter” conversation, from much more interesting characters.)
Oh that wacky Owen, always so stupid, unmotivated, lazy and worthless! And he has a trademark daffy hat, too! He’s OUR Crazy Harry! And just like how Harry had his trademark air guitar gag, Owen has a beloved running gag of his own too: the look of general idiocy on his face!
So how will the meddlesome old hag Roberta get her comeuppance this time? I bet it involves big bold letters, exclamation points and maybe (gasp) hand-gesture air lines! “Hand” as in singular, of course.
Damn it, the extra-sharp cheese I was putting on these crackers fell on the floor. Now it has cat hairs on it. (I have a cat.) Guess I have to scrape them off.
OH CRAP. Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to post something more interesting than the current FW arc. I’m really, really sorry. Sorry everyone!
I also hope Mr. Batiuk doesn’t really read this site, because I think I might have provided a plot arc…only, he won’t credit me, it’ll take a couple of weeks of strips (rather than 35 seconds), and it’ll be way duller than what I just posted.
(Les to Cayla at the wedding: Some other person, obviously not a FW regular dropped the frommage trays, and now there are Summer hairs all threaded in the various cheeses! This threatens everything. Let’s panic a lot, for several days, only to solve everything with lameness and terrifying puns.)
(Spoiler alert: it turns out getting cat hairs off cheese is pretty easy, really. And the cheese is fine. It didn’t get cancer or lose an arm.)
This strip tries to make me hate Roberta, so I’m going to reject it out of spite. Can we can interpret this strip in a way that makes her look good?
We already know that Owen is pretty incompetent, both academically and musically. We also know that both Les and Becky relentlessly taunt him in front of the class with this fact.
What if Becky was planning to boot Owen off the band? What if Roberta knows this? What if Roberta is employing reverse psychology, knowing that Becky will never follow her advice? Owen’s place in the band is now safe, and it’s all thanks to Roberta.
Hey, that’s right – this strip is supposed to sometimes, sort of be about high school students!
Apparently Becky’s dad decided this was too lame even for him and took his camcorder & headed for the hills.
History’s greatest Monster complains about the kid in the hat.
I don’t read ahead, but I’m really hoping next week is more of this band mom arc. It’s just sooooooo compelling.
I’m telling ya, this is all a setup to make us appreciate the next Les arc. At least when we hate him, it’s a feeling, unlike this ennui with the remainder of the cast.
Who am I kidding? I now hate Becky, DSH and Dinkleberry while growing fond of Becky’s mother, the only one with a backbone this week. Kudos to you, Roberta!
And for liability reasons, no school would EVER allow a non-employee up in such a lift, as shown. So much for the fabled “reality” this strip allegedly hews to.
I just now belatedly realized that all the FW storylines are pointless and make no sense.
Let’s go back to earlier this year:
– Owen and Cody compete for Summer’s affections (for whatever reason). Cody gets a text message by someone NOT from Owen or Summer, while some girl clutches her books behind them. Who is she? We never know because it segues into…
– Gaypromageddon! Liberals and conservatives alike cringe at poorly it’s handled. Roberta complains to the spineless Westview teachers until Nate waves around a student handbook. Protip: if you want to be pro-gay, start by portraying them as people, not by patronizing disembodied hands.
– Funky gets a new car, as Batiuk once again turns the titular character into a pathetic schlub.
– Les and Summer climb Kilimanjaro. Les cracks puns the entire time, irritating everyone. Does Les get his comeuppance? Nope! Does he even share stories/valuable lessons when he returns? Nope!
– Rachel and Wally visit the country fair. FW characters enjoying something fun? No Les? Just as Wally finally smiles, his trailer-trash girlfriend(?) makes some comment about existentialism.
– Becky mopes and complains.
See a pattern developing?
The ability to travel into the future is a curse. That’s all I’m going to say about the current arc.
You know, if Becky had the least imagination, she could have easily come up with a great explanation for why Roberta couldn’t join her on the hydraulic lift. Yet she didn’t, and actually let Roberta join her before she raised it up to conduct the band practice. She apparently didn’t say anything, and this is a woman who she angsts about for multiple days.
That’s not simply Major League Failure-to-Assert-Yourself. It’s not even Hall of Fame. It’s GoAT, and it’s amazing how many Westview residents are candidates for that “honor”.
Maybe if you took of that goddamn chullu, your ears wouldn’t be burning!!!! I mean Jesus, it’s frigging August.