Somebody Explain Sally Forth To Me Pls?

[Mopoleum]

I never read Sally Forth, but for whatever reason, I've seen it the past
couple of days.

The daughter and dad are bumming about spending a two week vacation with
Sally Forth's family. Why are they spending so much time with her family?
Is she going to make it up to them somehow? Or is this just one of those
eternal funny pages ongoing jokes, like Blondie maxing out the credit card
on fancy dresses?

[John W Kennedy]

On 2014-06-24 13:37:21 +0000, Mopoleum said:

> I never read Sally Forth, but for whatever reason, I've seen it the past
> couple of days.
>
> The daughter and dad are bumming about spending a two week vacation with
> Sally Forth's family. Why are they spending so much time with her family?

Because a beach house has been rented.

> Is she going to make it up to them somehow?

Maybe. Or maybe everything will work out in a completely unexpected but
exquisite way.

> Or is this just one of those
> eternal funny pages ongoing jokes, like Blondie maxing out the credit card
> on fancy dresses?

The ongoing joke is really on a larger scale. The details vary wildly,
but the summer plans of all the family, whatever they may be, always
crumble like Operation Barbarossa (which, after all, is only Applied
Rule of Funny).

--
John W Kennedy
"The grand art mastered the thudding hammer of Thor
And the heart of our lord Taliessin determined the war."
-- Charles Williams. "Mount Badon"

[Jimmy Delach]

Hillary is bummed because her boyfriend Jon just returned. Ted of course sees way too much of Sally's family (they live a half an hour away!!!).


Honestly I'm still surprised that Jackie and Ralph are together much less being married and having a kid. That's just me though.

[Invid Fan]

In article <ce608cee-1c3e-4eb1...@googlegroups.com>,

The sex is awesome.

--
Chris Mack "If we show any weakness, the monsters will get cocky!"
'Invid Fan' - 'Yokai Monsters Along With Ghosts'

[mopoleum]

Jimmy Delach <jdelac...@gmail.com> wrote in

> Hillary is bummed because her boyfriend Jon just returned. Ted of
> course sees way too much of Sally's family (they live a half an hour
> away!!!).

If they live only half an hour away, why the joint vacation? In today's
strip, Sally Forth seems onboard with the idea, but in the past couple of
strips she doesn't seem to be trying to sell anyone on the vacation, so I
can't tell if she's selfish, oblivious, or has some hidden agenda she
doesn't want to admit to.

[mopoleum]

John W Kennedy <jwk...@attglobal.net> wrote:

> On 2014-06-24 13:37:21 +0000, Mopoleum said:
>
>> I never read Sally Forth, but for whatever reason, I've seen it the
>> past couple of days.
>>
>> The daughter and dad are bumming about spending a two week vacation
>> with Sally Forth's family. Why are they spending so much time with
>> her family?
>
> Because a beach house has been rented.

Did Sally Forth rent it and then invite the relatives, or did the
relatives rent it and then invite her? And did she just do this without
consulting anyone in her family? Is this a pattern with her?

>> Is she going to make it up to them somehow?
>
> Maybe. Or maybe everything will work out in a completely unexpected
> but exquisite way.

I hope so. The latest For Better rerun had Elly nagging John into
breaking into the neighbor's house to get some spoiled kid's potty, then
he got arrested, and as far as I can tell she never said she was wrong
and admitted she should have listened to him. I kept waiting for Elly
to try to make it up to him, but instead she laughs at him and now it's
just the kids making lemonade. Kind of creepy, in my opinion.

>> Or is this just one of those
>> eternal funny pages ongoing jokes, like Blondie maxing out the credit
>> card on fancy dresses?
>
> The ongoing joke is really on a larger scale. The details vary wildly,
> but the summer plans of all the family, whatever they may be, always
> crumble like Operation Barbarossa (which, after all, is only Applied
> Rule of Funny).

Thanks for the context. It seems kind of dark to have everything
looking grim before the Operation even begins.

[Bruce Harper]

On Tuesday, June 24, 2014 11:34:44 AM UTC-4, mopoleum wrote:

> If they live only half an hour away, why the joint vacation? In today's
> strip, Sally Forth seems onboard with the idea, but in the past couple of
> strips she doesn't seem to be trying to sell anyone on the vacation, so I
> can't tell if she's selfish, oblivious, or has some hidden agenda she
> doesn't want to admit to.

This all is a long-running thread in the strip. Sally's sister is flighty and spacey and Sally has bailed her out in the past. Then she ended up dating then marrying Sally's former boss, who was a pain in the backside to Sally. Next up was their baby. Add in Sally's mother, who is rather domineering and not on the best of terms over the years with Sally. Sally's father isn't on the scene (don't remember if he's dead or divorced). Sally's mom is shacking up with Gerald, although the relationship is quite fuzzy (as is Gerald, who has little clue about what is going on). Ted doesn't really get along with or like Sally's family (not that his is much better and he avoids it whenever possible -- his brothers are all overachievers while Ted does whatever it is does for whatever company).

The latest twist is the two-week vacation at the beach, in a house that Sally's family has rented. Sally claims they all get a beach vacation while sharing the cost of the house, which Ted wants to make sure is understood and that he doesn't end up underwriting the whole thing. Ted and Hillary don't see two weeks with Sally's family (including baby) as a fun, relaxing time and are plotting how to escape. As also mentioned, Hillary's out-of-town boyfriend is back for the summer, arriving just as she is leaving for the beach.

Hard to tell how long this will take to play out, but it is a running theme in the strip.

Bruce in Blacksburg (who knows entirely too much about this)

[angelolady]

> Bruce in Blacksburg (who knows entirely too much about this)

Made me lol, Bruce.

[Invid Fan]

In article <XnsA356765799063h...@94.75.214.39>, mopoleum

<mopo...@mopoleum.com> wrote:

> Jimmy Delach <jdelac...@gmail.com> wrote in
>
> > Hillary is bummed because her boyfriend Jon just returned. Ted of
> > course sees way too much of Sally's family (they live a half an hour
> > away!!!).
>
> If they live only half an hour away, why the joint vacation?

Because? For most of my childhood most of my mom's family, who all
lived within a half hour drive of her parent's house, rented cabins and
trailers on a river up in Canada for a few weeks. It was just what they
did.

[Mopoleum]

Invid Fan <in...@loclanet.com> wrote in news:240620141500536640%

mopoleum

>
>> Jimmy Delach <jdelac...@gmail.com> wrote in
>>
>> > Hillary is bummed because her boyfriend Jon just returned. Ted of
>> > course sees way too much of Sally's family (they live a half
>> > an hour away!!!).
>>
>> If they live only half an hour away, why the joint vacation?
>
> Because? For most of my childhood most of my mom's family, who all
> lived within a half hour drive of her parent's house, rented cabins
> and trailers on a river up in Canada for a few weeks. It was just
> what they did.

If you liked or at least tolerated them, that's understandable, and at
least it sounds like there were mutiple cabins, instead of the one house
for all of the Sally Forth group. In the case of Sally Forth, it sounds
like 2/3 of her family really really doesn't want to do this, and since
she has tons of opportunities to see the relatives since they live
nearby, her pushing forward with this seems kind of deeply unpleasant,
although since I rarely read it, I could easily be missing some key
backstory here.

Some of the strips I read have characters doing deeply unpleasant
things, like Pearls Before Swine or Peanuts, but those usually have some
kind of commentary on what's going on. I hadn't seen that in the few
Sally Forths I've read, so I was curious whether this strip addresses
what she's doing here in some way.

[John W Kennedy]

On 2014-06-24 15:46:28 +0000, mopoleum said:

> John W Kennedy <jwk...@attglobal.net> wrote:
>
>> On 2014-06-24 13:37:21 +0000, Mopoleum said:
>>
>>> I never read Sally Forth, but for whatever reason, I've seen it the
>>> past couple of days.
>>>
>>> The daughter and dad are bumming about spending a two week vacation
>>> with Sally Forth's family. Why are they spending so much time with
>>> her family?
>>
>> Because a beach house has been rented.
>
> Did Sally Forth rent it and then invite the relatives, or did the
> relatives rent it and then invite her?

The latter.

> And did she just do this without
> consulting anyone in her family?

Yes.

> Is this a pattern with her?

It's a pattern with all the characters in the strip.

>
>>> Is she going to make it up to them somehow?
>>
>> Maybe. Or maybe everything will work out in a completely unexpected
>> but exquisite way.
>
> I hope so. The latest For Better rerun had Elly nagging John into
> breaking into the neighbor's house to get some spoiled kid's potty, then
> he got arrested, and as far as I can tell she never said she was wrong
> and admitted she should have listened to him. I kept waiting for Elly
> to try to make it up to him, but instead she laughs at him and now it's
> just the kids making lemonade. Kind of creepy, in my opinion.

Crying kid + not your own kid + your responsibility in spite of that = panic.

It actually reminded me of an experience I had once backstage while
doing an opera. There were only me and a woman there at the moment, and
she had just bobbled her big onstage moment. I didn't know her at all
well, I wasn't in the least attracted to her, and I knew that her
husband was insanely jealous. But she was CRYING. It took all the
willpower I had not to take her in my arms and make soothing male
noises.

>>> Or is this just one of those
>>> eternal funny pages ongoing jokes, like Blondie maxing out the credit
>>> card on fancy dresses?
>>
>> The ongoing joke is really on a larger scale. The details vary wildly,
>> but the summer plans of all the family, whatever they may be, always
>> crumble like Operation Barbarossa (which, after all, is only Applied
>> Rule of Funny).
>
> Thanks for the context. It seems kind of dark to have everything
> looking grim before the Operation even begins.

You mustn't think of it as "dark". The characters, especially the dad,
are all vaguely aware that they're characters in some kind of comedy,
and are (mostly) resigned to it -- even a little amused.

--
John W Kennedy
"There are those who argue that everything breaks even in this old dump
of a world of ours. I suppose these ginks who argue that way hold that
because the rich man gets ice in the summer and the poor man gets it in
the winter things are breaking even for both. Maybe so, but I'll swear
I can't see it that way."
-- The last words of Bat Masterson

[John W Kennedy]

On 2014-06-24 19:00:53 +0000, Invid Fan said:

> In article <XnsA356765799063h...@94.75.214.39>, mopoleum
> <mopo...@mopoleum.com> wrote:
>
>> Jimmy Delach <jdelac...@gmail.com> wrote in
>>
>>> Hillary is bummed because her boyfriend Jon just returned. Ted of
>>> course sees way too much of Sally's family (they live a half an hour
>>> away!!!).
>>
>> If they live only half an hour away, why the joint vacation?
>
> Because? For most of my childhood most of my mom's family, who all
> lived within a half hour drive of her parent's house, rented cabins and
> trailers on a river up in Canada for a few weeks. It was just what they
> did.

And it was normal in Maine, in my childhood, too, except that the
cottages were usually owned outright.

--
John W Kennedy
"You can, if you wish, class all science-fiction together; but it is
about as perceptive as classing the works of Ballantyne, Conrad and W.
W. Jacobs together as the 'sea-story' and then criticizing _that_."
-- C. S. Lewis. "An Experiment in Criticism"

[Mopoleum]

John W Kennedy <jwk...@attglobal.net> wrote in

> On 2014-06-24 15:46:28 +0000, mopoleum said:
>
>> John W Kennedy <jwk...@attglobal.net> wrote:

>>> The ongoing joke is really on a larger scale. The details vary
>>> wildly, but the summer plans of all the family, whatever they may
>>> be, always crumble like Operation Barbarossa (which, after all, is
>>> only Applied Rule of Funny).
>>
>> Thanks for the context. It seems kind of dark to have everything
>> looking grim before the Operation even begins.
>
> You mustn't think of it as "dark". The characters, especially the dad,
> are all vaguely aware that they're characters in some kind of comedy,
> and are (mostly) resigned to it -- even a little amused.

OK, that helps me place things.

I always think of Arlo and Janis as both having a sort of mutual
awareness of each other's moody sides, and an awareness of the other
one's awareness, in a way that made things work out for them, so I'll
try to read Sally Forth in that vein.

As long as things don't descend into Funky Winkerbean territory.

[mopoleum]

John W Kennedy <jwk...@attglobal.net> wrote:

> On 2014-06-24 19:00:53 +0000, Invid Fan said:
>

>>mopoleum

>>
>>>
>>> If they live only half an hour away, why the joint vacation?
>>
>> Because? For most of my childhood most of my mom's family, who all
>> lived within a half hour drive of her parent's house, rented cabins
>> and trailers on a river up in Canada for a few weeks. It was just

>> what the did.

>
> And it was normal in Maine, in my childhood, too, except that the
> cottages were usually owned outright.

I've even spent a week on vacation with my in-laws, but that was in
separate hotel rooms with time for separate side-trips and meals apart
and we all get along fairly well. Two weeks in a single beach house
with people you don't like who don't respect you -- that sounds like
Apocalypse Now to me.

[Peter B. Steiger]

On Tue, 24 Jun 2014 07:17:01 -0700, Jimmy Delach wrote:
> Hillary is bummed because her boyfriend Jon just returned.

In related news, I made an amazing discovery today. I was reading the
original "Peter Pan in Kensington" story on Project Gutenberg today and
ran across a section where the fairies explain that they don't say they
are happy; they say they are DANCEY. There was an illustration of a grim
looking fairy with the caption that she was not feeling dancey at all.

Warning: The following will make you want to bore your eardrums out with
an ice pick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm092Vp8ISw