Absurd Intellectual

Click on the image to see it full-sized. It’s a comic drawn by Tim Kreider, whose work I just discovered. He draw s a weekly cartoon called “The Pain - When Will It End?“. Or, should I say, he drew. Because he’s on hiatus.

Luckily, he has extensive archives at his website. Check them out — I implore you! They are funny and political in a way that so many editorial cartoons lack the cojones to be these days.

Because they are often topical, sometimes the archives feel a bit dated. But, sometimes even years later we’re still fighting the same culture wars we were back then, and the comic still applies. I also find his “artist’s statement” about his cartoons to be well worth my time. Like this one, which starts out “I have had it with the fucking Christians.”

I learned from this interview (fun read) that he also has an enemies list. Now I want an enemies list!

You may also like his contribution to the New York Times’ “Happy Days” blog, in which he talk about having been stabbed in the throat (seriously!) and how it made him happy for a whole year, but didn’t fundamentally change his life:

Once a year on my stabbiversary I remind myself that this is still my bonus life, a free round. But now that I’m back down in the messy, tedious slog of everyday emotional life, I have to struggle to keep things in what I still insist is their true perspective. I know intellectually that all the urgent, pressing items on our mental lists — taxes, car repairs, our careers, the headlines — are so much idiot noise, and that what matters is spending time with people you love. It’s just hard to bear in mind when the hard drive crashes.

I’m adding this guy to my bookmarks list. Also, he likes Miriam Toews!