In this one particular case he has a point though. It’s actually appropriate, given the conversation he is trying to have with her, to be specifically asking about her feelings regarding him.
Yeah, this relationship is *not* going to work out.
Like, if the authors end this story with them making out, it’s still not going to work ten years after the comic ends. They’re both too self-obsessed for actual love.
To be fair, I don’t think ANY of Tip’s relationships work. People tolerate his nonsense for practical reasons, but no one really likes him, much less loves him.
Probably a great many highly functioning sorts don’t really ‘blend’ well. Alas. Which may explain those who ‘settled’ for a percentage of personality traits resulting in a modicum of happiness. For a while.
And about the first panel today…..please tell me WHICH way Tip is supposed to be facing. I confess to being confused by his ‘stance’….is he undergoing a ‘mad science’
sub rosa attack and doesn’t know it yet?
He looks to be kind of half kneeling/ half sitting (you know, when you start out kneeling, and sort of slide sideways so you end up sitting next to your own feet), facing towards Tigerlily.
I think he sitting, facing away from Tigerlily, with his left leg crossed over his right, and we’re seeing his left thigh. However, he has awkwardly twisted his upper body to face her.
They’re sitting with their lower halves facing forward and their upper halves facing each other, on a bench or something. Tip’s left leg is crossed over his right. Combined with the tented fingers, that’s his “putting the subject at ease” therapy posture.
He’s used it several times over the course of the strip whenever he’s lectured or condescended to the person he’s talking to but doesn’t want them to think he’s being condescending. It doesn’t work very well.
“Respectfully, that didn’t have anything to do with me.”
You’re almost there, Tip. She’s not feeling about you. You were a speed bump on the road across the cosmos, and no matter how fun you were to ramp off of and if Tigerlily’s going to make you a recurring destination, right now you’re just that guy who messed up her shocks. Maybe square-Bernice could have settled down with you, but Tigerlily’s not that kind of act and you can’t keep up.
He walked into the problem
Like he was falling for his own hype.
His hat egregiously tipped upon one side,
His outfit was multi-stripe.
He had all eyes on appearance
And played the stereotype.
And all his friends think that he’s egocentric,
He’s egocentric, and,
He’s so vain,
He probably thinks this song is about him,
He’s so vain,
I’ll bet he thinks this song is about him,
Does he?
Does he?
Oh, he had her several weeks ago,
For reasons he can’t conceive.
Well, he thought that they made something so unsquared,
And that she would never leave.
But she’s leaving with the clockwork force,
And walking away from he.
He had some schemes, seeing they hit it off-ee,
They hit it off-ee, and,
He’s so vain,
He probably thinks this song is about him,
He’s so vain (he’s so vain!)
I’ll bet he thinks this song is about him.
Does he?
Does he?
Well, she isn’t going in a Conestoga,
Connection, not meaningful, hon.
Then she hears the thunder of the bloody cosmos
And the wind interstellar is done.
Well, she’s where she wants to any time,
And if she’s not, she’s with some self-centered stud,
Or a friend with some mojo,
Friend with some mojo, and,
He’s so vain,
He probably thinks this song is about him.
He’s so vain (he’s so vain!)
I’ll bet he thinks this song is about him,
Does he?
Does he?
—from “You’re So Vain,” Carly Simon (and somewhere somebody must’ve parodied this before, because he *is* so vain…)
Indeed it has been parodied – numerous times. Carly Simon herself did it as an anti-Trump song, and it was also done as an anti-Hillary song, and an anti-Mitt Romney song, and it was even done as “Bad Romaine” in reference to the romaine lettuce recalls last year. (No, I haven’t listened to any of them. I just googled “You’re So Vain parody”, and those were the first few that popped up.)
It’s such an easy song to parody, because there are really a lot of people who are “so vain”.
Their problem is that Tip lives in his own world, but Tigerlily lives in her own plane of existence.
It’s like trying to adapt the rules of basketball for rock climbing. The two just aren’t anywhere near compatible. Tip’s got to get out of his little box, and Tigerlily’s got to come down to earth if there’s to be any chance of it working out.
Tip just needs to decide if Dr. Jones is really the most important person in his life – the man in the mirror included. If not, he need do nothing. If so, follow her (ideally be waiting for her when she gets where she’s going).
Yup. I think he really is in love – for the first time in his life. But he’s been totally self-absorbed for so long, he doesn’t know how to be any other way. He has to figure it out soon, or he might as well not even try.
Unrequited megalomania.
Confuses the hell out of the universe, over which one to revolve around.
In this one particular case he has a point though. It’s actually appropriate, given the conversation he is trying to have with her, to be specifically asking about her feelings regarding him.
If she were a guy, I’d say she was having an erection.
So what’s the female equivalent? A sherection?
I believe the coloquial term is *wide-on.*
Lady-boner.
If she were a guy, I’d say it’s the other head that’s swelled.
What she’s saying, Tip, is that she’s so far out of your league that there’s no way you could ever work yourself up to her level.
Artie might be close to her level, but she’s the wrong gender for him.
Hubris, thy name is Berenice.
Dr. Jones is going to have to explain to Tip that she’s agreeing with his profound perspicacity by breaking out the therapy puppets!
OK, they’d be clockwork automatons. But they’d serve the purpose!
Yeah, this relationship is *not* going to work out.
Like, if the authors end this story with them making out, it’s still not going to work ten years after the comic ends. They’re both too self-obsessed for actual love.
Fortunately, it’s funny.
To be fair, I don’t think ANY of Tip’s relationships work. People tolerate his nonsense for practical reasons, but no one really likes him, much less loves him.
Two egos, passing in the night…
Well-said!
Probably a great many highly functioning sorts don’t really ‘blend’ well. Alas. Which may explain those who ‘settled’ for a percentage of personality traits resulting in a modicum of happiness. For a while.
And about the first panel today…..please tell me WHICH way Tip is supposed to be facing. I confess to being confused by his ‘stance’….is he undergoing a ‘mad science’
sub rosa attack and doesn’t know it yet?
He looks to be kind of half kneeling/ half sitting (you know, when you start out kneeling, and sort of slide sideways so you end up sitting next to your own feet), facing towards Tigerlily.
I think he sitting, facing away from Tigerlily, with his left leg crossed over his right, and we’re seeing his left thigh. However, he has awkwardly twisted his upper body to face her.
Could be. It would help to know what they’re sitting on.
They’re sitting with their lower halves facing forward and their upper halves facing each other, on a bench or something. Tip’s left leg is crossed over his right. Combined with the tented fingers, that’s his “putting the subject at ease” therapy posture.
He’s used it several times over the course of the strip whenever he’s lectured or condescended to the person he’s talking to but doesn’t want them to think he’s being condescending. It doesn’t work very well.
The tools of psychology are woefully inadequate for dealing even with the normal mad. For the mad of mad science, they are comically inadequate.
Quite
Clearly we need…Mad Psychology!
This is the stuff that takes Shaenon’s comics to the next level–simultaneously ludicrous, poignant, and resonant.
No way, this is one of Jeff’s!
I stand corrected–you guys are a more seamless team than I appreciated!
Sorry Tip, some things just aren’t meant to be.
“Respectfully, that didn’t have anything to do with me.”
You’re almost there, Tip. She’s not feeling about you. You were a speed bump on the road across the cosmos, and no matter how fun you were to ramp off of and if Tigerlily’s going to make you a recurring destination, right now you’re just that guy who messed up her shocks. Maybe square-Bernice could have settled down with you, but Tigerlily’s not that kind of act and you can’t keep up.
“Can’t hear you over the interstellar wind.” What have those stars been _eating_?!
Methane planets?
Stars are just big balls of gas to begin with. Why would they need to be eating anything?
Gold Star Chili?
Rodford E. Smith: Huge clouds of hydrogen. That’s how they got so big in the first place.
He walked into the problem
Like he was falling for his own hype.
His hat egregiously tipped upon one side,
His outfit was multi-stripe.
He had all eyes on appearance
And played the stereotype.
And all his friends think that he’s egocentric,
He’s egocentric, and,
He’s so vain,
He probably thinks this song is about him,
He’s so vain,
I’ll bet he thinks this song is about him,
Does he?
Does he?
Oh, he had her several weeks ago,
For reasons he can’t conceive.
Well, he thought that they made something so unsquared,
And that she would never leave.
But she’s leaving with the clockwork force,
And walking away from he.
He had some schemes, seeing they hit it off-ee,
They hit it off-ee, and,
He’s so vain,
He probably thinks this song is about him,
He’s so vain (he’s so vain!)
I’ll bet he thinks this song is about him.
Does he?
Does he?
Well, she isn’t going in a Conestoga,
Connection, not meaningful, hon.
Then she hears the thunder of the bloody cosmos
And the wind interstellar is done.
Well, she’s where she wants to any time,
And if she’s not, she’s with some self-centered stud,
Or a friend with some mojo,
Friend with some mojo, and,
He’s so vain,
He probably thinks this song is about him.
He’s so vain (he’s so vain!)
I’ll bet he thinks this song is about him,
Does he?
Does he?
—from “You’re So Vain,” Carly Simon (and somewhere somebody must’ve parodied this before, because he *is* so vain…)
Best yet!
Son of a gun!
Indeed it has been parodied – numerous times. Carly Simon herself did it as an anti-Trump song, and it was also done as an anti-Hillary song, and an anti-Mitt Romney song, and it was even done as “Bad Romaine” in reference to the romaine lettuce recalls last year. (No, I haven’t listened to any of them. I just googled “You’re So Vain parody”, and those were the first few that popped up.)
It’s such an easy song to parody, because there are really a lot of people who are “so vain”.
Ah, the classic conundrum for so many couples – they are on the same planet, but live in different worlds.
Okay, Tigerlily might be on a separate planet at this point, but the point still stands.
Their problem is that Tip lives in his own world, but Tigerlily lives in her own plane of existence.
It’s like trying to adapt the rules of basketball for rock climbing. The two just aren’t anywhere near compatible. Tip’s got to get out of his little box, and Tigerlily’s got to come down to earth if there’s to be any chance of it working out.
Tip just needs to decide if Dr. Jones is really the most important person in his life – the man in the mirror included. If not, he need do nothing. If so, follow her (ideally be waiting for her when she gets where she’s going).
Yup. I think he really is in love – for the first time in his life. But he’s been totally self-absorbed for so long, he doesn’t know how to be any other way. He has to figure it out soon, or he might as well not even try.