Lookin Smart

This new Dustinland comic is about appearing or not appearing smart. Note, it’s not really about being smart, but rather what makes other people think you are or are not smart. Which I do find interesting, because when you’re a kid, other children penalize you for appearing smart, while adults award you. Then when you become and adult, lots of people spend way too much effort trying to sound smart, and often times all this effort backfires. Hmmm… now I kinda wish I made the comic a bit longer! Didn’t get to delve into a few thoughts there. Well, maybe I’ll just have to do a follow up for all you fellow nerds out there.

No Debate

This new Dustinland comic is about my unwillingness to argue with people, or to even bring up any point that may result in an argument. I don’t know how much of it is due to culture changing and people growing more intolerant, or if it’s just that as I get older I realize more and more that no one listens, no one will ever change, and no one actually wants to have a conversation. They’re just waiting for you to finish making mouth noises so they can say what they want to say. And if that’s the case, why bother?

Probably not the best way to change the world but it’s definitely an easier way to get through the afternoon.

Influender

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about how lots of young people want to become influencers — which makes complete sense. You watch a lot of sports, you want to become an athlete. You listen to a lot of music, you want to become a musician. You watch a lot of YouTube and TikTok… you want to be an influencer. Kids don’t call it that though. They just want to make content. I get it. It’s fun. At least in theory.

Honestly, it’s no different than wanting to be an actor or rockstar. It’s possible. It’s just unlikely.

But hey, who are we to tell them what to do? We brought them into a world where AI is gonna take half the jobs. Maybe we all should be content creators. Who knows.

YouTube Shorts is pretty annoying though.

Pen Pals

This week’s latest Dustinland comic is ultimately a fun word nerd strip, although perhaps a wee bit naughty. Nothing dirty but maybe some hints that could take your imagination to a certain place if you are so inclined to go that direction.

But really it’s just about the word penal.

Huhuhuhuhuhuh….

Penal.

Horseboy Bebop

This week’s new Dustinland comic is something I dug out of my archives. The comic is new, but the idea has been lying around for a while. Back when my kid used to say the darnedest things. Now he just looks at screens and argues with me for the most part. That’s not true – sometimes he does not look at screens, and at those times, he’s pretty fun and awesome. But back in the day, boy… when you have a little kid they just write the comics for you.

I do really love the idea of calling them horseboys though. The word “horse” is just funny.

Things You Can Do With A.I.

This week’s latest Dustinland comic has a very literal title, since it’s sort of a sarcastic take on one of those lists you see so often these days. And not that I like explaining my comics (hey you could always ask AI), but this strip is really about the way we all laugh and joke about AI and discuss all these convenient and trivial benefits, while it is a very real and dangerous development in so many ways.

I may be a bit more cynical and pessimistic than most, but while I do see the potential for AI to accomplish many incredible things — cure diseases, boost technological innovation — the dangers are truly staggering. And even before we worry about it going terminator, the more immediate threat is that it will terminate our jobs. Seems like capitalism dictates this. Save costs, deliver more earnings back to investors. Supposedly we will be freed up to be more productive in capacities that require human creativity and what not, but I think that claim is dubious. I think in many cases, good and cheap beats great and less cheap, and I fear a downward spiral of cheap and good enough mixed with layoffs, leading to less consumer spending, leading to cost cutting, layoffs… You see where I’m going with this.

It’s just depressing for so many reasons, I could go on and on forever, but hey, at least we have infinite funny art and a robot to write emails for us. For now.

The Ringfather

This week’s new Dustinland comic is a combination of Lord of the Rings and The Godfather and it was so much fun to make. I pretty much spell out the story behind its creation in the first frame of the comic so not much more background. Would make a pretty sweet comedy sketch though. I think the key here is that when you read the comic, you need to do the mafia movie accents in your head.

I did want to work some more characters in there but the more serious characters like Aragorn don’t really have great quotes to play with. I did miss a few good memes though… like “One simply does not walk through Mordor” or “It is a gift.” And then from the Godfather side of course there’s… “I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.” Any ideas for a sequel?

Call Me Nostalgic

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about phones and how the magic of a phone call is gone. I think caller ID already sort of did the same damage, but that was more of a transitional phase where some people had it and some people didn’t, and we still relied on phones to talk to people and make plans, vs. today when phones are only used for talking a small percentage of the time (vs texting, scrolling, etc).

I do still enjoy a phone call. When you have time, when it’s someone you want to talk to, there’s just something really nice about it. And I prefer to do it at home. I know everyone else loves walking around with ear buds on, talking into the air, but I find that weird, even though it’s clearly efficient. I just like an old school phone call, from home. And I definitely miss the surprise call. These days, that’s considered rude. Someone just calls you, you’re like… why? You couldn’t just text? You couldn’t text first to see if I had time and wanted to talk? It’s a shame — we can’t go back. Those days… when the phone would ring and you’d perk up like a dog who hears a can of food being opened… those are gone, and they ain’t coming back. And no, a ding is not as exciting as a call, expect maybe in a few rare situations when you’re really hoping for a message from a specific person.

In summary, everything sucks, and in this case, we’re discussing the sucking of no one making phone calls anymore.

Montreal

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about the family vacation I just took to Montreal last week. Good times! Great city. I’d like to go back some time when the weather is not arctic — that would be a wildly different experience. I was there in the early spring once and it was still a bit on the chilly indoor only side of things, but I hear summer is amazing.

As I reference in the last panel of the comic though, winter time, the hotel rates do seem to be pretty decent. Understandably so — I was there for 5 days and 3 of them had lows in the single digits, and most people don’t choose to vacation that way. But sometimes a winter vacation can be a good time, even if you’re not hitting the slopes. I didn’t have space (or jokes) to mention this in the comic but the ice skating in Montreal is incredible. Tons of options all over the city, and the rinks are bigger than we have in the US, the skaters aren’t morons, and the rentals are actually sharp. Maybe skating is like that in the midwest or out in Colorado but here in the east coast it pretty much sucks.

Also, this is nerdy, but the architecture in Montreal is amazing. City is definitely growing too. I can’t believe how much construction I saw, and all these dudes were just out in 10 degree weather in sweatshirts and vests, just doing their jobs, laying down concrete, putting in pipes… I guess you get used to it.

I could go on and on about this town but I’ll just add one more thing — after coming from New York, it just felt a lot more… civilized. Could be partially a winter thing for sure, but Montreal just felt so much cleaner and the overall vibe was so much chiller. Part of the NYC thing is that it’s go go go town. You go there to make things happen, and that is fun, especially when you’re young. But it is nice to see that you can also be in a city that has great food and culture and not have to feel like your foot is constantly on the gas pedal. Of course visiting is not the same as living anywhere, so locals will have plenty of nuanced complaints I’m sure, but… just sayin, that’s what I felt last week.

Pocket? Money.

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about how I like to walk around with my hands in my pockets most of the time. Not the most interesting subject, I know… but sometimes I like to just start typing and see where it takes me. This comic arose from a sort of free associating bit of writing. I feel like it gets me into more of a Larry David standup minutiae kind of humor that picks apart little tiny things, and then I sprinkle in my own brand of weird stoner word nerd “what if” jokes.

Reminds me of a strip I did back in college where I just discussed snow. There was a panel with a girl looking out her window at a snowy landscape thinking… “So pretty and white… just like me.” It was such a dumb nothing pun of a joke, really, but some people absolutely loved it. So yeah, this comic is sort of like that. Curious to see how it goes over! I actually love doing silly strips like this but my hunch is people prefer the more relatable sort of commentary on life comics. What’s your take?