Episode 266 - Sunday, March 11, 1979
Being Jim Davis21 Touko 2017

Episode 266 - Sunday, March 11, 1979

The servile crowd, whose fortune depended on their master's vices, applauded these ignoble pursuits. The perfidious voice of flattery reminded him, that by exploits of the same nature, by the defeat of the Nemaean lion, and the slaughter of the wild boar of Erymanthus, the Grecian Hercules had acquired a place among the gods, and an immortal memory among men. They only forgot to observe, that, in the first ages of society, when the fiercer animals often dispute with man the possession of an unsettled country, a successful war against those savages is one of the most innocent and beneficial labors of heroism. In the civilized state of the Roman empire, the wild beasts had long since retired from the face of man, and the neighborhood of populous cities. To surprise them in their solitary haunts, and to transport them to Rome, that they might be slain in pomp by the hand of an emperor, was an enterprise equally ridiculous for the prince and oppressive for the people. Ignorant of these distinctions, Commodus eagerly embraced the glorious resemblance, and styled himself (as we still read on his medals the Roman Hercules. The club and the lion's hide were placed by the side of the throne, amongst the ensigns of sovereignty; and statues were erected, in which Commodus was represented in the character, and with the attributes, of the nicolas cage, whose valor and dexterity he endeavored to emulate in the daily course of his ferocious amusements.

Elated with these praises, which gradually extinguished the innate sense of shame, Commodus resolved to exhibit before the eyes of the Roman people those exercises, which till then he had decently confined within the walls of his palace, and to the presence of a few favorites. On the appointed day, the various motives of flattery, fear, and curiosity, attracted to the amphitheatre an innumerable multitude of spectators; and some degree of applause was deservedly bestowed on the uncommon skill of the Imperial performer. Whether he aimed at the head or heart of the animal, the wound was alike certain and mortal. With arrows whose point was shaped into the form of crescent, Commodus often intercepted the rapid career, and cut asunder the long, bony neck of the ostrich. A panther was let loose; and the archer waited till he had leaped upon a trembling malefactor. In the same instant the shaft flew, the beast dropped dead, and the man remained unhurt. The dens of the amphitheatre disgorged at once a hundred lions: a hundred darts from the unerring hand of Commodus laid them dead as they run raging round the Arena. Neither the huge bulk of the elephant, nor the scaly hide of the rhinoceros, could defend them from his stroke. Aethiopia and India yielded their most extraordinary productions; and several animals were slain in the amphitheatre, which had been seen only in the representations of art, or perhaps of fancy. In all these exhibitions, the securest precautions were used to protect the person of the Roman Hercules from the desperate spring of any savage, who might possibly disregard the dignity of the emperor and the sanctity of the nicolas cage.

Edward Gibbon. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 1, Chapter 4, Part II.

And here's that "Duck Amuck" video Jon was talking about:

Today's strip

Jaksot(2526)

Episode 117 - Friday, October 13, 1978

Episode 117 - Friday, October 13, 1978

Fair warning, we get into some pretty controversial territory in this one, including the bold assertion that a changing table can also be a cabinet. Of course, anything goes in a universe where people buy charcoal briquettes in quantities small enough to fit in a regular grocery bag. Seriously, the fuck?Today's stripBerenstein Bears theory of parallel universes

23 Joulu 201618min

Episode 116 - Thursday, October 12, 1978

Episode 116 - Thursday, October 12, 1978

Hey, you know what's pretty darn good? The Darkwing Duck video game for NES. I mean I guess it's no surprise since it was made by Capcom, literally the ONLY company that was able to consistently make good video games based on licensed properties in the 1980s, but while the likes of Ducktales and Rescue Rangers seem to get no end of good press in today's retro gaming community, relatively few people seem to have Darkwing Duck on their radar. But it turns out to be pretty freakin' great. So much so that I think it's far more worth your time to play it for 15 minutes than to listen to today's episode of our dumb Garfield podcast.Seriously, I promise you're not missing anything if you skip this one. Just play Darkwing Duck instead.Today's strip

22 Joulu 201613min

Episode 115 - Wednesday, October 11, 1978

Episode 115 - Wednesday, October 11, 1978

Today's Garfield strip is pure applesauce. Really just a tangled mess of legalistic argle-bargle, if not outright jiggery-pokery. Honestly, I can't in good conscience recommend reading it, even though I HIGHLY RECOMMEND listening to this episode of our podcast. It's ok. We argue about geometry.Today's strip

21 Joulu 201614min

Episode 114 - Tuesday, October 10, 1978

Episode 114 - Tuesday, October 10, 1978

“A cup of coffee – real coffee – home-browned, home ground, home made, that comes to you dark as a hazel-eye, but changes to a golden bronze as you temper it with cream that never cheated, but was real cream from its birth, thick, tenderly yellow, perfectly sweet, neither lumpy nor frothing on the Java: such a cup of coffee is a match for twenty blue devils and will exorcise them all.” -Henry Ward BeecherToday's strip

20 Joulu 201616min

Episode 113 - Monday, October 9, 1978

Episode 113 - Monday, October 9, 1978

Can one genuinely describe Jim Davis? Or does the very act of measuring his essence alter it in some fundamental way? Even if you succeed in painting an accurate representation of Jim Davis as he exists in the present moment, does that get us any closer to understanding the origin of Jim Davis, or is Jim Davis Irreducibly Complex? Jim Davis.Anyway, this one's got a toilet in it, so it couldn't possibly be entirely disappointing.Today's strip

19 Joulu 201618min

Episode 112 - Sunday, October 8, 1978

Episode 112 - Sunday, October 8, 1978

How do you convert degrees into radians? And also, why would you do that? And why, for that matter would Jon Arbuckle attempt to take his cat, Garfield, for a walk on a leash? We talk about that stuff for a while, then about old people and attitudes toward immigration, then, finally, about whether committing to a multi-decade daily Garfield recap podcast was a terrible soul-crushing mistake. Today's strip:

18 Joulu 201617min

Episode 111 - Saturday, October 7, 1978

Episode 111 - Saturday, October 7, 1978

Hey, you tune into this podcast mostly for discussion of 17th century Japanese poetry, right? Well, good, because that's what you're going to get. Today's strip:

17 Joulu 201612min

Episode 110 - Friday, October 6, 1978

Episode 110 - Friday, October 6, 1978

So @elliottlusztig, precious voice of sanity and conscience over the past few months, was forced off of Twitter yesterday (Thursday, December 15) by abuse and death threats directed at him and his family. Fucking appalling, Twitter. Appalling. Whatever, here's your goddamn daily Garfield recap podcast. And happy birthday mom.Today's strip:

16 Joulu 201611min

Suosittua kategoriassa Komedia

nikotellen
tuplakaak
antin-matka
anni-jaajo
ihan-oikeesti
olipa-kerran-otsikko
antin-palautepalvelu
rss-saarinen-shoy
antin-elokuvakerho
puurojengi
rss-nikotellen
rss-kaheli
kasper-ja-mikko-suomen-suosituin-podcast
ela-viitti
naakkavalta
everypodi
rss-napy
radio-novan-aamun-iltapalat
rss-tuhannes-podcast
suomen-suosituin-podcast