#53438 - 01/31/02 06:25 PM
A Boy and His Penguin, or, Two Dips and a Dad
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Masha
Ching Shih
Registered: 05/23/01
Posts: 512
Loc: Chicago, IL, USA
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Since it seems that the Bloom County love is rampant hereabouts, it seems only fitting that the Breathed crew should have their own thread.
Because I am a small and silly person, I have failed to retain specific Bloom County/Outland quotes, so I'll give you a related story. A friend of mine has dated a woman for many years, a woman who gives Opus gifts. It's simultaneously endearing and infuriating. Just like Opus.
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#53439 - 01/31/02 07:20 PM
Re: A Boy and His Penguin, or, Two Dips and a Dad
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cat
Ching Shih
Registered: 06/02/00
Posts: 1754
Loc: Northern California
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I saw this thread title and my heart leapt with happiness. Bloom County was such a huge influence on me and my brother. We spent hours and hours poring over the books, quoting it back and forth to each other, etc. (I'm 29, so I was pretty young when it was big.) My brother had tons of Opus stuffed animals, and we had the single (I think it came packaged with the Billy and the Boingers book?). One year my brother went as Opus for Halloween--my mom made this enormous penguin suit. It was really funny, and it really, really looked like Opus.
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#53440 - 01/31/02 08:40 PM
Re: A Boy and His Penguin, or, Two Dips and a Dad
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Apasionada
Ching Shih
Registered: 12/04/01
Posts: 73
Loc: CA, USA
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I loved this when I was little too! And would enjoy it even more now, I'm sure, if I could find my books.:) I had the record too, and I know I've mentioned in literary crushes that one of my first crushes was Binkley. And I must admit I had quite a thing for Lola Granola too. She was my vision of everything a woman should be, back then. And actually, come to think of it, now as well. What a girl!
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#53441 - 02/01/02 04:27 PM
Re: A Boy and His Penguin, or, Two Dips and a Dad
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gzola
Ching Shih
Registered: 01/19/02
Posts: 41
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I remember I used to have gazillion Bloom County comics cut out of the newspaper. But my grandfather came to visit and threw nearly all of them away because he considered them a fire hazard. 
But I ended up getting all of the books. I loved when Bill and Opus ran for president and vice president. And the strike. And Billy and the Boingers. And Binkley's closet. So much to love about Bloom County.
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#53442 - 02/01/02 04:32 PM
Re: A Boy and His Penguin, or, Two Dips and a Dad
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chinchilla
Ching Shih
Registered: 09/13/01
Posts: 62
Loc: Seattle, WA, USA
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Wow, this is strangely timely. My roommate just unpacked books that have been patiently waiting for a book case and they included just about every Bloom County collection. Having never read them, I promptly got knee deep and love everything about it.
It's scarey how certain things are still very contemporary, despite being more than 15 years old. His commentary on celebrity 'exhaustion' when Bill goes to rehab, Opus' plastic surgery, the need to cave to shouting infomercials as well as the need to sit in dandelions after watching the news. . .so funny and so apt.
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#53443 - 02/01/02 04:57 PM
Re: A Boy and His Penguin, or, Two Dips and a Dad
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TraceyB
Ching Shih
Registered: 06/06/00
Posts: 1419
Loc: Minneapolis, MN
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So, did anyone else have the "Penguin Lust" t-shirt? Was it just me? Hello?
Anyway. Y'all are making me feel old again, because I was already in the Air Force when Bloom County started. I loved that strip so much. I worked in an office with a couple of other young lieutenants, and we'd gather 'round the morning paper for our Opus fix.
One of my favorite quotes came from the week when Milo was hiring a band for the school dance. One of the contenders was "some group called The Rolling Stones." When the teacher grabbed the photo and yelled "What!!!!" Milo said, "Yeah, I can't believe it either. Those schmoes look 40 years old." (It was traumatic for a lot of people when Mick Jagger turned 40.)
I loved Binkley's Closet, too. "We're economists!" "Here - New Coke!" Nooooooo!
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#53444 - 02/02/02 12:32 AM
Re: A Boy and His Penguin, or, Two Dips and a Dad
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storygirl
Ching Shih
Registered: 10/24/01
Posts: 197
Loc: Columbia, MD USA
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*Happy dance for Bloom County thread!* I so loved this strip when I was in high school. I was all about Penguin Lust and "Don't blame me: I voted for Bill and Opus!" I have a few of the books which I can still read repeatedly and laugh over-- the jokes just don't get old. Although I wasn't all that crazy about the Bill the Cat turning into Donald Trump storyline. It's also either amazing or just sad how many lines I can quote from memory and try to work into everyday conversation. Some examples:
"Do you suffer from the heartbreak of.......tongue warts?"
"We're nightmares-pipe dreams are under the bed"
"Keep yer shorts on-I'm a-movin as lickety damn split as I kin!"
"Where do you go for your Cola news?"
"Reagan has Santa Barbara- I have my (censored) dandelions"
"Ironically enough, C. Everett Koop was done in by tofu and bean sprouts!"
"It's unfair that I'm not as hunky as Tom Cruise"
"Are we all naked or is it just me?"
"Bikinis,babes,full body massages,Joe Clark with a bat-- all in all, a mixed blessing"
There's more, but I will spare you. Oh- and does anyone else think that the best title ever for a rock love song is "U Stink But I Love U?"
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#53445 - 02/02/02 01:10 PM
Re: A Boy and His Penguin, or, Two Dips and a Dad
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kathel
Ching Shih
Registered: 12/28/01
Posts: 110
Loc: new york, ny
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Until recently, I had only kept the book of the first five years, so my fondest memories are of the early characters.
Like Senator Lucius Bedfellow. "Ah a farmer. Your corn looks very healthy, dear fellow." "T'ain't corn, it's dope. Here, take a few pounds home to the wife." Senator Bedfellow is astonishingly relevant to today's politics, no?
And remember Bobbi Harlow teaching her grammar-school class about nuclear war? A little girl comes up with a gas mask on: "It's in case the fishes tear-gas me!" "Fascists, dear."
And Milo's grandfather with the commie ducks and the cockroach uprising? Coaching football dressed as Patton. "Men, football is war. God, I love it so..."
I'm so glad to know that there are people who share my passion.
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#53446 - 02/02/02 03:29 PM
Re: A Boy and His Penguin, or, Two Dips and a Dad
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october
Ching Shih
Registered: 10/29/00
Posts: 164
Loc: Alberta, Canada
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Honest to God, I'm married because of Bloom County. When I was 20, I moved to Japan, and the Daily English language paper still carried Bloom County. My home paper, The Ottawa Citizen, had dumped it months before. My friend Jim was a rabid BC fan, worse than me, so I spent one Saturday morning very patiently cutting the BC strips from the past few months worth of papers I had squirreled away in my tiny aparto. Mailed 'em all, and when I came home, Jim took me for drinks to say thanks. Bob's your uncle, a very long and drawn out courtship ensued. The Christmas Opus I bought around the same time now sits on our son's bed.
"Capitalist pig. Give us some Wheaties."
Steve Dallas starting the band,
"You're in, kid."
"I wet my pants."
"Perchance is Madonna basselope?"
"Not this month."
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#53447 - 02/03/02 10:33 AM
Re: A Boy and His Penguin, or, Two Dips and a Dad
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TraceyB
Ching Shih
Registered: 06/06/00
Posts: 1419
Loc: Minneapolis, MN
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October, that's a wonderful story.
I named my old 1987 Corolla after Rosebud the basselope. The car was an unusual color called "rose-gray," so the name just fit perfectly. Of course, I spent the next 13 years telling people that, no, it wasn't named after the sled in Citizen Kane, it was named after a basselope.
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