What’s on YOUR iPod?

Cidu Bill on Nov 12th 2008

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Filed in CIDU, Randy Newman, Unshelved, comic strips, comics, humor, libraries, music | 14 responses so far

14 Responses to “What’s on YOUR iPod?”

  1. Scarlettb Nov 12th 2008 at 01:00 am 1

    Is it…something about teachers? Or librarians? And how, because they have to (GASP) interact with children and teach them things, they can’t listen to ipods while they work? Because there’s a blackboard in the back of that final panel, and all, but, um…I hate to have to tell them that MOST people can’t just put on their ipods and tune out at work. I can’t, for sure.

  2. Spooky Nov 12th 2008 at 02:22 am 2

    I don’t think that guy in the second panel is working, he doesn’t even seem to have a shirt on. I have no idea what this strip (pun not intended) is supposed to mean. But the woman in the final panel seems to be enjoying the silence.

  3. Charlene Nov 12th 2008 at 03:33 am 3

    The question is “what are you listening to?”. The answer for the woman on the right is “nothing”.

  4. Cornbread Nov 12th 2008 at 04:01 am 4

    I’m familiar with this (and get it in email daily). It’s a strip about librarians and libraries. The guy in panel 2 is not a librarian, but a lawyer who goes to the library *ahem* in that state as a kind of protest (or running gag). And anyway, the people aren’t necessarily working, so we don’t have to worry about them listening on the job.
    This is the kind of joke that you kinda need to know the characters to understand (I think).

  5. Morris Keesan Nov 12th 2008 at 09:57 am 5

    Yeah, Cornbread has it right. The naked guy is a lawyer and library patron, the other three are librarians. What humor there is in this strip (basically of the “smile knowingly” kind, not the “laugh out loud” kind) comes from familiarity with the characters, especially Mel, the branch manager in the last panel: one of her great passions in life is office supplies.

    (and WHY are we seeing four-year-old strips, out of context?)

  6. Austin Nov 12th 2008 at 10:08 am 6

    I just wanted to agree with the fellow in the third panel. The Time Traveler’s Wife is an amazing book.

  7. The Ploughman Nov 12th 2008 at 12:02 pm 7

    I like Bill’s title better than the comic’s inscription, because Mel (on the right) probably wouldn’t even own an iPod (maybe not even know what one is). One of the enjoyable themes of “Unshelved” is the clash between old and new forms of disseminating and ingesting information and media.

    Even in the days of the Walkman, I don’t remember lives having a constant personal soundtrack like they seem to with the iPod. I’m sure I’m victim to selective memory, but there seem to be more youth with earbuds now than there were youth with fuzzy headphones back in the day.

  8. Judge Mental Nov 12th 2008 at 12:17 pm 8

    The guy’s comment in panel two sounded like gibberish to me. This was due to three reasons. 1) The standard comic strip procedure of writing dialogue in all caps 2) “Amour” not being enclosed in quotation marks and 3) I had never heard of Malcolm Gets

    For these reasons I didn’t interpret “Amour” as being the name of the Broadway musical and I didn’t interpret “Gets” as Malcolm’s last name. I read these as regular words (i.e. “love affair” and “obtains”) It came across like weird Yoda-speak with “The Incomparable” being the name of a WWE wrestler.

  9. Dawn Nov 12th 2008 at 12:47 pm 9

    The “funny” in the final panel is not that she’s passionate about office supplies. It’s just an acknowledgment that some people like silence.

    I chuckled. I like this strip quite a bit. And yeah, I can understand why people got confused if they’ve never seen it before.

  10. Cidu Bill Nov 12th 2008 at 01:19 pm 10

    I believe you’re right, Ploughman: It occurred to me recently that people today are essentially cyborgs, wearing their entertainment devices, communications devices or both on their ears like permanent fixtures, and the outside world has to compete with these these devices for their attention.

  11. Hockey Baby-Mama Nov 12th 2008 at 01:47 pm 11

    I think the answer for the last panel is indeed “nothing,” including the question that was asked. I wish I had the ability to listen to nothing, but when it’s quiet outside, the voices in my head pipe up… ;)

  12. DocBob Nov 12th 2008 at 04:24 pm 12

    @Morris Keesan

    I think the reason that we are seeing the old strip is that it was recently re-run. While I have read the archives I seem to remember seeing this not to long ago. I get the RSS feed for Unshelved and I think it was in one of his recent messages.

  13. Trouser Cough Nov 12th 2008 at 07:52 pm 13

    I hate to push this into the EWWW file, but I think that the woman in the last panel is giving a little lean to let loose some gas. That’s what she is listening to.

  14. kate in Phila Nov 14th 2008 at 02:07 pm 14

    I don’t read this comic but I have done what the character in the last panel is doing. I put on my headphones and people think I can’t hear them and they leave me alone to get some work done. ;-)

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