The strongest plants become sickly
Fans of Grace Paley’s work will be well aware that ‘Enormous Changes At The Last Minute’ is a slim volume. Glenn’s version features the entire script of the Kevin Bacon/Ellen Barkin film adaptation in the back, along with several decorative “plates” featuring stills from the film.
Lottie’s plans have been squelched by Glonn.
So Glumm.
It’s rather telling that only now has Lottie noticed the washing instructions on her puffer coat.
Lottie lives by the seat of her … coat.
Are you supposed to wash coats?
Well, if you’re careful to not get it dirty and don’t succumb to boredom like Lottie, you probably don’t need to…
You can wash some coats. I mean, not a Barbour jacket or an Irish thornproof, but a polyester shell puffer, sure.
I washed and dried one just last night. IT CAN BE DONE.
This is so mysterious. Glenn doesn’t seem to be there to do the laundry, he’s just there to read, OR was he waiting for Lottie? He destroyed all of her courage with just a few words… This guy is totally suspicious!
Not even read. He just gave Lottie his book.
Which again begs questions if Glenn is human or even has a true corporeal form?
He’s like Michael at the end of Good Place season 2
I’m currently going with “cyborg clone seeking to recruit Lottie into the Careers+ hivemind”.
Turn about is fair play, innit?
WAS he waiting for Lottie??? Who is this man!!???
WHAT is this man!?
WHY is this man?!
WHERE is this man?! Oh, he’s right there. Never mind.
HOW is this man‽
No, really, how ya doin’, Galen?
WHITHER is this man?
WHENCE is this man?
***APPLAUSE***
Ygln comes across like a spooky Welsh druid here! Such depths of wisdom have pooled in his dark-rimmed eyes!
This is weird, strange and mysterious. I like it.
Getting major “Handbook For The Recently Deceased” vibes from Beetlejuice here.
Watched that recently. Still good.
I misread Guylim’s dialogue in at least two panels on the first pass – “How are you doing that?” in panel 1 and planks in panel 4. Scary part is I didn’t even have a second thought about the planks, and only noticed when I looked back at the comic 5 minutes later.
I should probably reread today’s comic after a solid night’s sleep. Maybe Gallium will make more sense then.
Lottie can always tumble the coat on a non-dry fluff setting; it might at least spin some of the water out of it
Bad Machinery: Come for the Bildungsroman, stay for the killer laundry tips.
Suddenly Glenn has turned the tables! And in a very creepy way!
Glam is really embracing the careers professional lifestyle.
Obviously we do spend much of our time roaming the night time streets delivering gnomic statements to enlighten lucky passers-by.
He was hired to shore up Karen’s leaky daughter, and by the gods, that’s what he’s going to do!
I’ve tumble dried my puffers in the past. It is fine Lottie, just don’t make a habit of it.
What is up with the eyes everywhere? Puts me in mind of this old song. https://youtu.be/ssCLB6Y8zjA Hmmm, it’s perkier than I remember. But still stalkerific.
I think about that song all the time and was thinking about it in particular while making this and the previous comic.
I was thinking of this one. Same vibe. Perky but stalkerific.
https://youtu.be/JsntlJZ9h1U
For both your and Nomi’s links, I clicked through expecting to find this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YvAYIJSSZY
The eyes. Find the eyes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8k-iy_tWtQ
I’m compelled by CRTC Canadian content regulations to add… https://youtu.be/xcLdbsrSngA
okay, I can’t resist posting this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_28lubmMsw
I’d thought this might be a commentary on London’s ubiquitous public spy-cameras supposedly monitored by law enforcement (is that still going on?).
My first thought was this song, but probably not what John had in mind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3bql2DMyGQ
I feel like Glnn is Otherworldly. Or Underworldly. But he seems to…care for Lottie? This is so funny because I 100% thought he was a throwaway character at the beginning. (Not that there are ANY throwaway characters in this universe.)
Okay here’s my theory about Gline: He’s a spirit who is cursed to trail his “clients” until they are gainfully employed. He can not rest until Charlotte finds her dream career! (But he’s not that good at his job so, it’s rather tragic.) Maybe he was killed before he was able to fulfill the career dreams of his final client! So now he is CUR-SED!
Sort of a Sesh Gremlin for the unemployed?
A pooka (?), perhaps. Cursed to help you find employment so they can themselves pay for their own laziness in life.
Yes. All of these.
I like this theory!
When the mystery is, “What am I going to do with my life?”
When is that not the mystery?
Heavy suggestion of weird dream, possible hallucination
I know you can safely dry a down sleeping bag by loosely stuffing it in a large pillowcase. Perhaps this applies to puffers as well.
Hmm. That looks an awful lot like Claire’s face on the book cover. Given that this is the only detail on the cover that does not faithfully match the real-world cover (in which her face is tilted down and partly obscured by the hat), I’m going to guess this is no accident.
Oh, wow, not being familiar with the book, I would not have noticed that detail. Looking back at the previous page, the cover there looks more like the real-world one.
Is Lottie seeing things because she’s feeling guilty about leaving Claire alone, or has her new book actually somehow developed Claire staring accusingly at her from the cover?
Ok, in my head canon now, Glenn is voiced by David Firth of FatPie.com /Saladfingers fame.
Grace Paley! And the best book. This made me so stupidly happy. Thank you.