Hyper as ever
on October 31, 2013 at 12:01 amChapter: The Aliens Return
Location: University Hospital
“Yeah, someone just died and everyone’s still super snarky. What’s with that?”
Oh, hey, Derrick the Alien’s wearing a Sexy Totally Not An Alien costume! HAPPY HALLOWEEN.
This is a foolproof plan.
OhEmGee Derrick is Teh Secks
Oh, yay! More police guard guy!
So is Joe’s commentary here deliberate lampshade hanging, or subconscious authorial self-criticism of the tone inconsistency?
“Oy Vey”?
Was this the moment you decided Joe was Jewish?
Joe is based on my childhood friend, who is Jewish. He was always Jewish. And here he’s not saying it because he’s Jewish, but because it’s a popular phrase.
Where I’m from the phrase is “Uff da”. And just like one does not need to be Jewish to say “Oy vey”, you don’t have to be Norwegian to use “Uff da”.
You do however have to be Norwegian to eat Lutefisk.
So if I eat lutefisk, I can get my Norwegian citizenship? That stuff is nasty, but it would be worth it!
Lutefisk is some sort of pickled herring dish, right? And who else loves pickled herring? Jews! Full circle!
Pickled herring is raw herring that has been pickled (duh)… Lutefisk (or Lutfisk, in Swedish) is dried fish that has been treated with lye until it’s jelly-like and caustic, then soaked until it’s edible again.
“Ruth’s carcass is cooling downstairs”? Really, Young Willis? This is something a hardboiled PI says about a murdered stranger in their internal monologue, not something a college kid thinks about their friend killed in a tragic accident.
Joe Rosenthal. Private Dick.
DETECTIVE! Slip of the dick there
No, I’m pretty sure you were right the first time.
It’s the “private” part that’s wrong. L’il Joe is a pubic service. PUBLIC! I meant “public”.
Ah, Freudian slips: When you say one thing, but mean your mother.
Even now, I think that’s perfectly in-character for Joe to say. Regarding your friends as strangers when emotions get too thick is right up his hetero alley.
Beware Joyce! Reality intrudes. The aliens are not cute.
Honestly, they are pretty cute. They’re just not nice. At all.
Originally posted:
April 2, 1999