SoSFDavidO here for the next two weeks, takin’ the reins! Here’s today’s strip, in which Mason, having realized the sorry lump of half-man sitting across from him actually lost his wife after an extended illness, looks amused as hell.
What in the world is he smiling about? It can’t be his own cold-cribbed comment, whatever that means. Was there some part between “Lisa’s Story” and “The Other Shoe” where Les and Lisa adopted a unicycle-riding bear and ran a wacky New Zealand B&B? Because that’s how amused Mason looks.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Oh look at that, the vapid Hollywood Actor genuflecting at the font of all good writing. Excuse me while I puke.
Well he’s got the smirk and “wry comment” down already. No need to put up with Les anymore.
Worst is that I can’t tell if Les is supposed to passively be showing annoyance at Mason or if he actually thinks that his work is lesser for being based on a biography.
Check the drinks. Les continues with ice tea, while Mason has decided that a glass of wine…perhaps several glasses of wine…will help him tolerate Les for a while longer.
Wait…… what?? “Tried to get as close to the truth as I could”? Has Les forgotten that this is the script for “Lust For Lisa”, not “Fallen Star”? Actually, he should have gone in the opposite direction, because the “truth” has always been boring and insufferable.
A new entry for the Batiuktionary: “Cold-cribbed”
What a pompous asshole. “Experience”, “close to the truth”…give it a rest already, LesTom. The guy wrote exactly two books over a twenty five year span and he’s explaining “the craft” like he’s Hemingway here. Also kind of difficult to believe that Mason doesn’t know where stories come from, but that’s just TB pouring on the disdain for those Hollywood phonies again. I do love the irony of FW featuring a discussion on storytelling, though, that’s just priceless.
Oh, hell. He’s going to Tomsplain writing to us, like that insufferable lecture about “hidebound literalists.”
Oh, swell. “Look at this Hollywood phony, people. He doesn’t know what an autobiography is or what love is and now he doesn’t even live in a real world.” The contempt for the world outside Batomic’s bunker-like suburb couldn’t be clearer.
He’s not quite launching into an “Art is REAL and TRUE and DEPRESSING and the pleibs don’t UNDERSTAND it” rant, but you know it’s on the tip of his Funky Felt Tip.
How long are they going to keep him out there for a “special” that isn’t going to make any money?
Oh, and Less, that shyte eating grin on Crayola’s face when she picks you up at the airport is a leftover, it’s not like she’s glad to see you…………….
Oddnoc, I stand in line – “Tomsplain” is the perfect term for what he does.
Whatever else you can say about Batiuk: I’ve given props to his musical tastes…he also appreciates a good beer.
There’s still two more days of this, or maybe he’ll save the rant for Sunday.
Funny enough, every time this storyline reappears, my musical tastes veer into playing a single Billy Joel song on a loop.
“Actually i cribbed the whole thing from Lisa’s Diary”
@TFH: TB: “I like a stronger, darker beer.” Guess we can only wait for Les to announce “I like my beer like i like my women… kinda.”
The look on Mason’s face in Panel 1 is priceless. Mason is practically breaking the fourth wall for help from the audience.
@badwolf: a beer that changes from dark to light and back on a daily basis?
Never mind the heavy-lidded narcissism. Is there anything Les could say that was more useless?
What I wrote months ago still applies: There is no authentic sentiment in this comic strip.
Batiuk’s beer tastes run towards mass-produced sludge. Get on the craft brew bandwagon, Batty. I’m actually surprised his favorite beer isn’t something light, but brewed in Ohio.