therithere: Idyllic

Orion Sandstorrm (

waywind) wrote in

therithere,
@ 2008-01-04 21:26:00

Entry tags:

post: this is a comic, species: canines, species: canines: wolves and coyotes

Idyllic

Read today's comic.

If the comic hasn't appeared there yet, read it here.

(Post a new comment)

lupabitch
2008-01-05 05:47 am UTC (link)

We have a massive windstorm going through Portland right now. It's times like this I'm quite glad I don't have to shelter myself from the storm using trees, bushes, or conveniently angled big rocks.

Or, for that matter, that I don't have a huge chance of dying from internal parasites.

Or that getting food doesn't involving chasing anywhere from 200 to over 1000 pounds of meat on the hoof, usually with big antlers

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	maskedretriever 2008-01-05 06:11 am UTC (link)
	I was out in that for a bit! It was actually hilarious until I started getting cold and wet. Fortunately, that's what Coyote gave us fire for. :3 (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lupabitch 2008-01-05 06:13 am UTC (link)
	I have over a mile to walk from work to the train station. I could take the bus, but I'd get home later, and sometimes it doesn't even run. So I pushed my way through the wind the whole way, glad I didn't have to try to use the umbrella! (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	maskedretriever 2008-01-05 06:23 am UTC (link)
	My umbrella's the straight-spine kind, so it can be opened even in the winds we had tonight. However it also acted like a sail. That point where I stepped in the mud crossing over towards the MAX station practically turned into a Wile E Coyote moment. ZIP! Preeeoooww! RUTCH! Luckily was smart enough to close umbrella and not hit trees. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lupabitch 2008-01-05 06:23 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, that's pretty much why I just dealt with the bit of rain that was blowing around like little BBs. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	waywind 2008-01-05 06:50 am UTC (link)
	If Coyote had meant for us to dry off by the fire, he would have made it waterproof. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	thassalante 2008-01-21 06:28 am UTC (link)
	Don't you get it? That's the joke! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	lonenomad 2008-01-05 06:17 am UTC (link)
	Frealz! (Reply to this)

	laurenmitchell 2008-01-05 11:16 am UTC (link)
	I love the reference to the Moomin books :-D (Reply to this) (Thread)

	waywind 2008-01-05 05:03 pm UTC (link)
	YES! Someone got it! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	jolantru 2008-01-05 12:52 pm UTC (link)
	chuckle :) (Reply to this)

	v_dragon 2008-01-05 04:42 pm UTC (link)
	giggles I know That feeling ... seems every day at work they come up with a longer paper trail in out 'paperless' office (Reply to this)

	burrwolf 2008-01-06 07:13 am UTC (link)
	Seeing how I'm at work, inundated with forms All I can say is "Here here" (Reply to this)

	ekevoo 2008-01-06 05:37 pm UTC (link)
	"Uselessness of everything"? What a frustrating book title! (Reply to this) (Thread)

waywind
2008-01-06 06:54 pm UTC (link)

It's a fictional book that appeared in Tove Jansson's Moomins series. (The Wikipedia page doesn't mention it, but they're called Mumins in the Portuguese translation.) The Muskrat, a nihilistic philosopher, always carried "The Uselessness of Everything" with him. One begins to suspect he just pretends to read it so that he can spend a long time lying around in hammocks and baths. It's his excuse to be cranky and lazy: since everything is useless, he doesn't need to help anybody. Eventually the book is lost, and the strange and powerful Hobgoblin replaces it with "The Usefulness of Everything." The Muskrat was annoyed, but the Hobgoblin thought it was pretty funny.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	draco18s 2008-01-09 09:41 pm UTC (link)
	That's awesome. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	draco18s 2008-01-09 09:41 pm UTC (link)
	And so is the comic. (Reply to this)

	ladyfox7oaks 2008-01-10 12:23 am UTC (link)
	We may romanticize it and make it far more idyllic than it actually would be... But you never see a Fox filling out a W-4 form for deductions on her MICE!!! (Reply to this) (Thread)

waywind
2008-01-10 07:52 pm UTC (link)

Exactly. People go on and on about what it is that separates us from the animals, searching for some trait that we have that they don't-- whether it's cognition, physiology, or behavior-- when really it's just paperwork. Paperwork is what separates us from the animals.

My favorite part in the five-century-old satirical novel Journey to the West, by Wu Ch'eng-En, is where we find out about paperwork in the afterlife. The Monkey King has been brought to the underworld, but the creatures there are having trouble declaring him officially dead. He's listed neither in the ledgers for a monkey nor as a human, being a supernatural creature residing somewhere in-between. Eventually they find Monkey's file, where he's listed simply as Soul 3150. The Monkey King revises the records by crossing out not only his own name, but the names of his fellow monkeys as well, rendering them very difficult for death to find.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	ladyfox7oaks 2008-01-10 08:41 pm UTC (link)
	Would that be part of the story "Monkey King creates havoc in Heaven"? I'd like to find a translation of that... (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	slupine 2008-01-12 08:11 pm UTC (link)
	No, Da Nao Tian Gong (the chinese title) is actually part of the Journey to the West story. ^^ it's just one little chapter. At once point I had a link to where you could by the VCD of the old movie that was made of that chapter... all in Mandarin, of course, but the music is nice. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	ladyfox7oaks 2008-01-14 07:22 pm UTC (link)
	Ah... Thank you. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	waywind 2008-01-13 09:14 am UTC (link)
	There are several different English translations of Journey to the West. As slupine points out, Monkey's adventures are only part of the novel. If you're interested in picking up a copy, you should read the Wikipedia entry so that you can choose a particular translation and edition that sound suitable to you. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	ladyfox7oaks 2008-01-14 07:25 pm UTC (link)
	Oooh... Thank you! :) What's spooky is that I JUST picked up a "retrospective" sci-fi magazine, and they did an article on each of these old shows, some classic (Blake's 7), some terrible (The toy-toons rage of the 80's), some really obscure... (Monkey) And reading it- I'm going "Dang, this sounds REALLY familiar...why?" (Reply to this) (Parent)

	wolfofzion 2008-01-12 03:41 pm UTC (link)
	Has slight memory of simluar episode of DBZ and is suddenly reminded about Yu Yu Hakasho Wow Apparently the concept of Paperwork in the underworld is common thought for the Japanese (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	slupine 2008-01-12 08:12 pm UTC (link)
	The story of the Monkey King is Chinese actually. But then, the Japanese borrowed a lot from the Chinese throughout their history. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	wolfofzion 2008-01-12 11:20 pm UTC (link)
	Yes I know they have. And I am aware that "The Journey to the West Chinese" I've read parts of it. Dragon Ball is accually based on it (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

waywind
2008-01-13 09:31 am UTC (link)

Dragonball is not so much "based on" Journey to the West as... very loosely inspired by it. Every once in a while there are little hints of Dragonball resembling Journey to the West, but that's all.

Monkey Magic, however, can be said to be based on Journey to the West. It's still very different from the book. Some of the characters from Journey to the West are in it, to begin with. ;)

Journey to the West is a timeless classic, so it would inspire any culture it touches. It hasn't made much impact on Western culture yet because it was translated so recently. It was translated into Japanese much earlier.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	wolfofzion 2008-01-12 03:45 pm UTC (link)
	As for my therioside being simpler than my homid one. Well that depends if my Asperger's can be transered to a wolf mind. =\ I don't my wolf pack would like one of their memeber to suddenly have panic attack during a hunt. Or go through sensory meltdowns, which might be worse since my sense are hyperstrong. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	draco18s 2008-01-12 09:17 pm UTC (link)
	Reminds me of a forum signature... Ow my head... why do I taste ferret? WHY DO I KNOW WHAT FERRETS TASTE LIKE?!?! OH GOD! (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	wolfofzion 2008-01-12 11:17 pm UTC (link)
	Had decide your mouth was fun for exploring? that sounds like Sythastisa(fuck spelling)really. Though a sythasyte wolf would be funny Pack: is read to howl Wolf: WAAAIT! DON'T! BigFang howl's is weird shade of blue! It won't harmonize with the fusiacha howls! Pack: looks annoyed (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	draco18s 2008-01-13 03:59 am UTC (link)
	Hehe! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	lunaticbubbles 2008-02-06 10:01 pm UTC (link)
	That signature makes perfect sense if you own ferrets... Realizing that this is commenting nearly a month after the post. Oh well... (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	draco18s 2008-02-06 10:03 pm UTC (link)
	I suppose that's feasible, yes. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Agree (Anonymous) 2008-01-24 06:26 am UTC (link)
	I'll second that. Paperwork's a killer. (Reply to this)

pyro_ike
2008-02-07 10:34 pm UTC (link)

*month late comment*

I'd say their lives actually are simpler, just not as pleasant as some might think. Sure, you've got to hunt for your food to survive, but that's the fun part! Sure, there are pack dynamics, but at least in a wolf pack they're more overt than in a human family (mostly).

Parasites are a problem, as are weather conditions.. but even if you had a shorter life span, it'd still be awesome.

(Broken bones though, those would just suck. For as long as you're still alive. >_>)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	eye_of_twilight 2008-02-08 05:07 am UTC (link)
	I don't think I'd be able to give up the internet.... :) (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	pyro_ike 2008-02-08 05:15 am UTC (link)
	A small price to pay for a wild life, I'd say.. but to each their own. :P (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	eye_of_twilight 2008-02-08 05:43 pm UTC (link)
	When I think of wild life, I tend to think of getting shot/stuffed/put in a zoo or otherwise killed or hunted. <:) You'd have to stick me way out somewhere where I'm gonna be safe. Or just make me someone's pet fox. Then I'd be spoiled rotten. :x PS: Your icon is cute! XD (Reply to this) (Parent)

I know this comic was posted awhile ago but...

sarenth
2008-03-10 09:05 am UTC (link)

It did make me think. The comic here kind of reminds me of a comment Bill Maher made on home-raised cats "Sure, it's a fur-ball with a broken spirit, but yes, it technically does live longer than an outdoor cat."
Then I got to thinking when I saw this; is my therioside 'better'? Well, no, it's simply part of me; and I think that is the beauty of being a therianthrope. I can have the experience (past life, current soul, what-have-you) of being a (in my case) wild animal but within the context of my human body and mind. What a blessing, and what a pain it can be at times!

(Reply to this)

	rax 2008-03-24 12:23 pm UTC (link)
	This made me think of my favorite poem, "Abnegation" by Adrienne Rich: http://www.akrasiac.org/rachel/documents/abnegation.txt Not easier, not harder, just different. (Reply to this)

limboboy
2008-07-01 06:57 am UTC (link)

I've seen my mate get frustrated like this. Often he'll just scowl at whatever it is, without being able to pinpoint just what's getting to him, or communicate it. Seems to be a therian thing, body language and emotion, not usually as much head-logic as non-therians.

Could part of the frustration with "the system" be that it's gotten so far from where it's supposed to be, even by non-therian standards, that it doesn't serve any healthy purpose? Paperwork in a system that really served people might not be that bad - but the fact that it doesn't serve any purpose unless you're `the system' makes it more stupid. Let's face it, in nature we have animals that cull the sick and the weak from a herd, keeping that herd fit and healthy. If we had the same thing with politics, the system would be fit and healthy, too. And maybe not suck so much? I'm not suggesting hunting down corrupt politicians - well, maybe in law - but as society we need the natural sense of pure feelings, intuition, and direct uncomplicated sincerity that therians usually have. We need you, and who and what you are! Don't be intimidated by society, make it back down instead! Leave your mark on it, and show it which of you is in charge! Or at least, show others, usually non-therians, a better example to live out. We've got very few role models left anymore. =)

(Reply to this)

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