Hi, comic‘s done, and sorry for the delay. Thankfully this blender of a month is almost over. Good news is I’m officially done waiting for buses every morning. Exciting.
ALSO
Hey, why not go read an accurate review of a n*ck*lb*ck album! And d’you remember the previous comic? Well here it is in audio form thanks to the super-cool QN Podcast. Make sure you stay until the end of the credits! Okay, David Suzuki’s on the radio, I gotta run…
shamefully, lurkingly, viciously yours,
WR
Virus Comix News 
November 25, 2009 at 4:08 pm
The comic today is taking “wall of text” to a hole new level … autsch.
November 25, 2009 at 4:31 pm
wow
just wow
November 25, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Wow, Buses are completely different where I live. Except for the old people.
November 25, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Hooray! Better late than never. I was worried that the Sphynx might have gotten you for outing her.
I’m very curious as to what is in the nosepicker’s suspicious container. Spider food, perhaps? Or the contents of the briefcase from Pulp Fiction?
So it’s come to this? You should be in advertising.
November 25, 2009 at 5:17 pm
way tooooo many words! but still some kind of masterpiece…
November 25, 2009 at 5:26 pm
i’m quite fond of buses.
November 25, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Sorry, observational humor ala Jerry Seinfeld doesn’t really do it for me – when I was reading this I kept thinking “And how about those airline peanuts, what’s the deal with those?” This would have been much better as part of a stand-up routine than a comic.
November 25, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Holy damn dude stop whining.
November 25, 2009 at 6:12 pm
“Stop whining”? Stop mischaracterizing honest criticism as “whining”. This is only my second comment on the strip, and my first one that was in any way critical of it’s content. I like Subnormality, and I don’t mind the wall-of-text strips generally, but this is a pretty weak strip for a number of reasons.
1. It’s observational humor, which is pretty tired and not at all suited to the comic medium.
2. For observational humor to work, it has to be observations that people share. A lot of these were just general musings that had never occurred to me and weren’t funny. For instance, I do ride the bus regularly, and I have never seen a bus driver with a beard.
3. The text would have worked just as well without the picture – it’s not the “voice” of any character in the strip, it’s just the author’s observations accompanied by a drawing of a bus. This was a weakness shared by the last strip, but that one was much better because the commentary was much easier to relate to and more concise.
I do like Subnormality, I think it’s one of the best, probably THE best webcomic out there, but this particular strip was weak, and I’m a bit worried that there have been two strips of this type in a row now.
November 25, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Bonus visual pun: the kid’s NIN T-shirt has a Super Mario Bros enemy on it called “Reznor” (i.e. Trent).
November 25, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Deke: I’m pretty sure he was telling ME to stop whining, not you.
November 25, 2009 at 7:26 pm
The kids are there because they don’t see things the same way as you. The back seat in the bus is kind of special.
November 25, 2009 at 7:32 pm
@fj: So you mean the kids are taking the short bus?
Also, @Winston: who are you and why do you take the same buses that I do?
November 25, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Here in the civilised part of the world where taking public transport is only shameful to uptight arseholes (assholes) who drive cars that are compensating for something the elderly only get free travel after 09:30 so they don’t clog up the buses during commuter time.
I took two buses today, they were clean, prompt and the schoolkids were respectful and well behaved. They did make a beeline for the back as well.
The real question though is why is it that when someone like me with long legs gets on a bus the only free seats are those over the rear wheel arches that leave your knees up around your ears? I have to sit in the aisle seat so my feet have somewhere to go which makes me look like one of those selfish people who don’t want anyone sitting beside them. So your etiquette comment really hit home here.
November 25, 2009 at 8:42 pm
I was going to
November 25, 2009 at 8:44 pm
I was going to post some witty comment concerning today’s comic and Deke’s attitude towards it, but then I read all comments, instantly felt depressed about the level of intelligence of SUBNORMALITY!’s readers.
Geez, I’m really sad because I though audience was quite.. different.
November 25, 2009 at 8:52 pm
ev11: I get the emails and I assure you the audience is plenty intelligent.
November 25, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Love your comic, loved this one especially. I take buses and trains everywhere because i didnt want to add another fucking car to all the other fucking cars on the road, and i do feel like a loser if anyone i know sees me waiting for the bus, but whatever, its the price you pay. The ‘reject bin at the plush toy factory’ metaphor strikes hilariously close to home.
“Lavalife: So it’s come to this.”
I always think about that. Why would you use the services of a dating site when it only contains the sort of desperate, lonely weirdos that you would never want to date anyway?
November 25, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I like the comic, I found it amusing.
I didn’t relate that much though, because in my country, like in Muscleman’s, taking the bus isn’t shameful…
Here it’s just a (relatively) cheap and easy form of transport.
November 25, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Thanks Winston!
Congratulations on your new ride! Or are you just moving closer to your job/school?
November 26, 2009 at 3:09 am
The best parts of this one were the signage gags in the actual illustration. “Don’t do it! Call 1-866-ILL-DOIT.” Also, dude, are you ever going to get hate mail from homeopaths and homeopathy users…hee hee.
November 26, 2009 at 3:09 am
You know, it only counts as a true wall-of-text if it’s hand-lettered.
I figgered there’d come a day pretty soon when Winston would throw in the towel and just start using a keyboard. Ah, the downward spiral continues….
November 26, 2009 at 3:12 am
I’m glad I’m not the only one who gets mad at old people for being old and on the bus in the morning (I mean, geesh, there is this one old bastard who takes 20 minutes to hobble and inch his way on and off the bus. Some of us HAVE places to be in the morning).
November 26, 2009 at 3:37 am
Dude, you really need a break, eh? I hope you feel better soon.
November 26, 2009 at 3:59 am
Stupid. I dont mind the wall of text, but your commentary, usually unique and insightful, degenerates into absolute stupidity when it delves into politics. Do yourself a favour and never write a word about anything related to public policy again, and do everyone else a favour and never, ever, vote.
Also, fyi: In my experience, privatised bus sistems have been cleaner, cheaper, faster, safer and more effective than any publicly-ran buses Ive ever been in
November 26, 2009 at 5:00 am
typo on 11. “the the”. Good band though.
November 26, 2009 at 5:28 am
You could have gently bucked in a request for contributional funding.
I got up late and normally don’t use a bus…
Oh, well …
November 26, 2009 at 6:43 am
It’s a real shame that public transport in the US seems like crap for you. In the UK, buses are usually a very viable alternative transport option to driving (especially with the cost of fuel nowadays) and even though I have a car, I still prefer to ride the bus/tram/train or cycle/walk whenever I can. It’s not for some noble reason like saving the Earth, it’s just because I like to zone out when I travel.
I reckon the problem is that American cities are usually very spread out so having reliable public transport links would be expensive to set up and maintain. Of course the benefits would outweigh the costs in the long-run, but no-one ever plans that far ahead, especially when it means spending your tax dollars…
Oh and the comic was too wall-o-text for me. Felt like a massive blog rant with a doodle of a bus.
November 26, 2009 at 7:20 am
@Kidder: you’re probably right about the spread-outness of American cities causing their public transport to suck. The canonical counterpoint being New York, which is hemmed in by water on almost all sides and consequently very densely populated… and blessed with a truly excellent public transportation system. Once you leave the city, things go downhill rather quickly. Here in the greater New Brunswick area (the city in New Jersey, not the Canadian province), buses are so rare that I find myself forced to take taxis whenever driving isn’t an option for some reason or other, and I could write a rant about those taxis almost as long as Winston’s rant about buses.
Note that the taxis in NYC are fine, but of course in that fine city, you don’t actually need ’em. 🙂
November 26, 2009 at 7:57 am
I ride the bus every single day I go to work.
One person in particular whom rides frequently on buses I take to work. Is a blind man with a black seeing eye dog. He sits at the front, the dog under the seat between his legs while he knits or writes using a braille board.
From the occasional “religious only when it suits them” person whom boards and rants because he sees two young girls kissing or holding hands.
It does not matter at all because I am there just to get to work.
November 26, 2009 at 8:38 am
Gotta be a breach of wall-of-text copyright s(h)urely?!
The brilliance of Winston’s walls of text are the fitful dances by hand on which it leads the eyes. When I saw ‘font’ just now I searched for the dreaded words ‘guest strip’ and was almost disappointed by the end when I didn’t see them :O(
Winston, for me it’s not so much the fact that typescript denudes your thoughts (it does) but it kinda lays bare the suspicion that when You type, your thoughts don’t ferment into colour like they do when you draw them. An incision of a comment perhaps and it’s not meant to cut, and you are The Creator, but I eeeked a little and had a microweep that you tangented your trademark into a monochrome regiment of easily-dismissable letters.
Plus, I live in Holland and sing on my bike, but I think the grannies are mostly still on the yesternight bus to Alzheimer’s street.
November 26, 2009 at 8:51 am
Having said that, it’s a masterstoke of Machiavellian mischief to stir up support for the walls of text by bleaching them into skeletal scaffolds of blog-standard invisibility.
B(er?)ravo sir!
November 26, 2009 at 10:32 am
I never once thought I would feel the echo of my own personal fury in my lifetime…but your comic gives me hope. Realistically, it gives me hope that I’ll die in a world where nothing changes due to massive ignorance, but at least I’ll know that 5-6 people on this planet understand the points I make in daily life, and at least one of them can draw.
November 26, 2009 at 10:33 am
and Gerry B is a fucking prick for so many reasons I want to strangle myself
November 26, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Interesting. A couple of the points you mentioned ring true, from what little I’ve seen of the inside of busses. However, here [South Africa], while busses are still safer than going via taxi [http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2009/6/8/1244479229710/TAXIS-PROTEST-001.jpg], it’s still something you avoid if you can. Most are in various states of disrepair, and it really isn’t safe anymore.
One thing that rings true is your point about privatisation. Recently [Can’t remember the exact date.. may have been last year], the public bus system was bought out by a private group, who then raised the prices while neglecting maintenance, amongst other things. A few weeks later, they sold the busses back to the state for a lot more than they bought them, because the government really had no choice, the busses are a necesity.
On a side note, can anyone explain to me why people get so riled up by comments other people post. Sure, you may not like what they said, but is that really enough reason to verbally? [Or textally, perhaps?]
November 26, 2009 at 12:18 pm
One more time me:
@Skullsex
You lost all your credibility after typing ‘sistems’. Moreover public transport is sometimes better idea then private one – in several cities worldwide public transport was made free and greatly improved the general situation on roads and reduced traffic.
(not mentioning you did not bring any arguments at all, just ranted)
@GarryB
Winston has already made few comics with ‘wall of text’ with a single panel or bigger image, yet they were all awesome (the shop ‘queue’ is actually one of my favorite). This one is the same.
Single panel with various numbers and references in comics is original idea which instantly relates to SUBNORMALITY! in my head.
That’s why it’s good and I like it.
November 26, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Haha! You realized Trent from Nin shares his first name with mario character…And I thought I was the only one…
November 26, 2009 at 2:05 pm
I didn’t even realize you were from Toronto until I saw this current strip. With the current fare hikes going on I’m pretty frustrated with the whole system myself.
I know a few people who also seem to get caught up in this social stigma of public transport – generally the same people that can’t afford a data plan but have an iPhone.
I choose to take public transit because it’s a smarter way to travel through the city – the only downside is it is fucking disgusting – so once or twice a week I drive or cab it when I don’t have the heart to sit beside hobo first thing in the morning or don’t have the energy to shoulder my way through a solid wall of human bodies (which contradicts everything I’ve ever learned about hygiene and manners).
And personally, I don’t mind the font instead of the handwriting – but I much prefer the handwriting.
November 26, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Or to put it fucking pricklessly: I prefer hand-lettering; I dressed up my opinion in words that didn’t match your mood 25C. Any of your other reasons you’d care to share send them to me: sinzibble at yahoo dotco dotuk. I don’t think this is the place for bile.
ev11, I adore the numbering pointer strips too; it was entirely a ramble at the strangeness of seeing typed letters instead of the Rowntree scribble.
November 26, 2009 at 3:16 pm
A small bit offended about the elderly comment, but I figure thats just part of the expierance.
Also, I can tell you aren’t from Edmonton (probably) solely because you didn’t mention buss drivers getting out at certain stops to get coffee and smoke, or the pathetic teens that talk about shooting up places in the back seats.
November 26, 2009 at 5:04 pm
25cents: Don’t insult Gerry, he’s nice.
LaZodiac: The point was that I was mocking myself for being shamefully vicious regarding the old people, so if you were offended then read it a second time. And bus drivers do that here too, i assure you.
negrodamus: If anyone reading is interested, the problem with Toronto’s transit is that it’s the only transit system in north america that is funded primarily by fares as opposed to government funding. Which is a joke, and which is why the cash fare has risen 50% in recent years.
And to anyone upset over the non-hand-lettered text, I’m sorry, but there wasn’t time to hand letter it, pure and simple. However long you think it takes me to make these comics, I assure you it takes twice as long as that. As a result, the past eight months have seen too much of this kind of compromising as the comix have fought for time with freelance stuff and my day job. The good news for you is that I’ve just recently taken dramatic steps to eliminate said ultra-stressful time battle and so 2010 will be a whole lot more on schedule and a whole lot less compromising as Subnormality becomes my top priority.
November 26, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Spot on indeed. Just about everything is true, especially here in Denver. I’ve rode nearly every damn bus in the metro area and experienced far too many of these. I’m not entirely sure how our transit system is funded here, but I’ve seen the fares rise well beyond what I expected to ever pay to turn an otherwise 20 minute drive into an excruciating hour and a half ride.
November 26, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Thank you for mentioning the bus drivers with beards. I have that exact same thought all the time!! When I was going to school I used to take a bus driven by a dude that looked EXACTLY like a 1970s Tommy Chong.
November 26, 2009 at 8:03 pm
I’m always wondering where the fuck all those old ladies are going at 7 AM too. They can’t all be going to Smitty’s like my grandparents.
Old people need to learn to sleep in, they don’t have to get up to milk the cows or whatever antiquated shit forced them out of bed at 5 am in the 1940s.
November 26, 2009 at 9:42 pm
I do prefer the hand lettered comics too, I’ll admit. They feel more… personal.
Most of my school years I’ve live close enough to school that I never had to take a bus for that, I just walked, and those rare times that I did take public transport weren’t particularly problematic.
Nowadays I ride everyday about 5 km to and 5km from university, rainy days included, and why? Not for environmental reasons or my lack of motor-moved transport, but simply because I like to sleep in and bus timetables surely have not been made with me in mind. Also, since they travel in traffic, buses being late isn’t that uncommon where I live.
November 26, 2009 at 9:44 pm
#I’ve liveD, of course. I have to learn and re-read posts before, well, posting them.
November 27, 2009 at 2:10 am
The Toronto Transit system is totally horrible downtown, and it’s way too expensive. I’d rather walk from Bloor to Union than wait 5 minutes for a Train and pay 3 dollars. Why doesn’t everyone walk? I never understood that. Are we that lazy?
November 27, 2009 at 11:05 am
I was in Toronto a while ago, but I only took the subway, which broke down, and then I waited for about an hour until another one came.
And the machine that dispensed the tokens ate some of my change.
November 27, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Hey, there’s plenty of porn set on buses: just enter “bus” in the search box on Youporn.com.
And “Why would you voluntarily wake up this early in the morning when you don’t have to” is a young person’s question: now I’m 64, my body wakes before 6am regardless, and that’s common. It makes me boringly sleepy by 9pm, but what can I do? (Except for claiming to be healthy, wealthy and wise.)
November 27, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I agree about the stigma mass transit takes in North America practically everywhere that isn’t NYC – down to the fact that even if the observer is ON a bus he views the other riders OF the bus like some sort of alien species worthy of nothing but derision – but all it does is make me love NYC more (here, the crazies are viewed as local flavor, as compared to abhorrent anomalies!) as cars aren’t the primary mode of transportation and thus buses aren’t these dirty, smelly blockers of traffic only poor people use.
The bit about GM struck home, tho. Good one, WR.
November 27, 2009 at 7:24 pm
4: Life in face of death?
November 27, 2009 at 8:16 pm
In Argentina, what identifies bus-drivers (specially short-distance ones) is the mullet haircut… Maybe it the only haircut their union pays for…
The buses have been privatized long ago, but are now managed by numerous enterprises so that, at least, keeps the thing in control, or sort of… It’s a shame that trains aren’t a lot better… To travel I have to take whether two buses or make it half by bike, half by train… Always have taken the second choice. Cheaper, faster and healthier…
A big drawback of the buses in Argentina is that they get stuck in traffic a whole lot of the time… Let me reformulate the statement… A big drawback of Argentina is the traffic. Damn you, Henry Ford, Damn-you…
And regarding the squirell or whatever creature it is down the wheel… It’s quite a common sight… The amount of squashed pidgeons I’ve seen in my now usual daily trips downtown are enough to make a documentary… Yes, about squashed pidgeons…
November 28, 2009 at 4:26 am
Oh my, I didn’t know you lived in SF. 😉
November 28, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Great. Now I feel self-conscious about riding the bus. Perhaps next week you can make a comic about poor prats like me who have barely a decent thing about them. Or maybe you could go back to writing funny comics, I dunno…
November 28, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Once again, you rock. Like several aspies, I don’t drive a car (Sensory overload). And, I can tell you that I identified personally with every single thing you wrote here today. One question: Have you ever ridden MARTA? See, I live in Atlanta, a city where the low social status bus-riders have is called “not driving.”
November 28, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Buses of my lovely city, Istanbul, are like tiny hells of a low budget religion. Especially in summers.
November 28, 2009 at 11:36 pm
The TTC kills me.
November 29, 2009 at 1:29 am
I think you should try writing short stories. I think that would make you happy.
November 29, 2009 at 1:30 am
I haven’t read the whole thing yet. But this on first glance: your web comic’s title is a solemn commitment to truth in advertising.
November 29, 2009 at 6:01 am
You seem to like spending a lot of time observing and judging people. Most of your observations seem to be pretty negative. Pull the stick out of your butt and see if you are ever capable of seeing something positive in others. Love the comic.
November 29, 2009 at 6:38 am
Mulayim, that was a great line. 🙂
Brilliant work as always! But somehow I love busses anyway.
November 29, 2009 at 7:30 am
5. might also have to do with Japan havin’ train and subway systems. (I’m watching the wrong kinds of porn)
Y’know, the list comics seem like equal parts observational humor and coping mechanism. I kind of like that.
November 29, 2009 at 2:52 pm
William Brust: Never ridden Atlanta transit, but i’ve heard it described by Lewis Black on one of his albums… “That MARTA fuck thing!” Ah, good times…
Mulayim Sert via Sean: Yeah, that was definitely a great line! “Tiny hells…” Classic.
OjnoTheRed: Goddamn right it is.
October: No offense, but you don’t know anything about me. Let me help you out though: sometimes i like to confront negative things about myself, and sometimes i do that by making a comic about it. A comic where i refer to myself as a “dick” who harbors a lot of “shameful lurking viciousness.” Don’t make the mistake of assuming that artists aren’t self-critical and thus miss the obvious self-criticism, and, furthermore, don’t automatically assume that any art is a straightforward window into the mind of the author. This isn’t completely analogous, but i’m always reminded of that PJ Harvey quote “Some critics have taken my writing so literally to the point that they’ll listen to ‘Down by the Water’ and believe I have actually given birth to a child and drowned her.” Good album, incidentally.
Quib: I kind of like that too.
November 30, 2009 at 2:15 am
Kind of a mean spirited, inaccurate sweeping statement about porn people being drug-addled sociopaths just randomly stuck in the middle of your piece there. I’m sure a lot of people would agree with you, it’s just unusual to see you take such a lazy cheap shot.
November 30, 2009 at 2:25 am
living in toronto, i can totally identify with this comic!
there seriously ARE a huge amount bearded bus drivers. i love all the references and i think the drawing is spot on for the toronto buses!
keep it up! love your comic!
November 30, 2009 at 6:36 am
wait, do all buses just look the same or is this modeled after Portland’s Trimet?
November 30, 2009 at 11:00 am
I’m number 8! I’m number 8! Fame at last!
ps I use internet dating because I’m time-poor, and also socially awkward due to a hearing disability. Plus in bonks-per-date terms it’s very efficient.
November 30, 2009 at 11:01 am
And Winnie, one of the reasons (apart from the usually awesome comic) I keep coming back for more is that you continue to interact with your commenters, not just fire’n’forget your strip. Congrats mate.
November 30, 2009 at 11:44 am
You’re right, Winston. Don’t doubt yourself.
November 30, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Ing: I appreciate what you’re saying and I almost agree with you, but i would counter that sometimes a joke is just a joke, and not actually a sweeping statement.
simon: I too am time-poor and socially awkward, so high five (or just exchange a quick glance).
dvilla: Unfortunately, doubting myself is pretty much a lifestyle at this point. I’m fine with that though.
November 30, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Comic says more about how those who objectively/honestly analyze their surroundings are more likely to lose their minds than it is about buses.
As a person who is painfully aware of the big picture most of the time, I can relate to the frustration. For some, its hard not to be negative (sometimes unfairly) living in this modern culture, that is, if you have a problem with it. Even if you don’t have it “hard”, the lack of soul, mechanical routines and worship of material possessions just kind of gets to you on a different level than physical hardships. Its a psychological thing.
Would like to see a comic about how our obsession with technology is ruining our connection with nature/reality, and our ability to enjoy it.
November 30, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Huh.
Y’know, I gotta be honest. I often like to think that I am not a judgemental person, and that I make a conscious effort to see the good in all people. So when I see your comic, and how disdainful and holier-than-thou it can be sometimes (even often), I can relate to it less and less. Ironically, your judgemental nature (of white middle-aged men, of car drivers, of people in jean jackets and mullets) makes me feel more secure about my own lack of pretensions. So there’s that.
But really? Is this any way to go about your life, assuming the worst in everyone? Assuming that everyone is a “lumbering parade float of… squandered potential”? You’re probably a lot better than the narrator of this particular comic, but throughout Subnormality, your worldview comes off as very similar to this. What the hell, man?
Granted, I take shit way too seriously, in general. But Subnormality has great potential to be funny if it rises above all the bitterness. Today, it didn’t.
November 30, 2009 at 11:56 pm
He he… nice to see that bus driver making a comeback. He was in the “there’s them and there’s us” comic.
December 1, 2009 at 1:07 am
buses are awesome, once there was this dude with a hangover headed to his job as a clerk at a toy store where he got to tell mothers that no he couldn’t sell them the display model and yes he knew that it was going to ruin their kids christmas in two month but it still wasn’t available for sale. And then the elementary school field trip to the history museum got on the bus, so he got out his hip flask to try to cope and one of the parents watching the children very obviously disapproved. It was wonderful.
December 1, 2009 at 9:41 am
Novan says:
“Y’know, I gotta be honest. I often like to think that I am not a judgemental person, judge judge judge judge judge judgejudgejudgejudgejudge.”
That’s what I read. It’s sorta like when people preface statements with, “I’m not racist, but” because it’s practically guaranteed that whatever follows that phrase is racist.
I’m a very judgmental person and so is everybody else. I’m constantly making judgments about everything and everybody around me, making patterns up in my mind and relegating entire swaths of people to this or that niche on a snap judgment (skater punk, stoner, hoodrat, pensioner, whacko, yuppie, suit, etc) and you know what? You do it too. Because if you didn’t, you’d go crazy.
It’s shorthand for dealing with the public. You don’t have the time, mental or social capacity to take in a city’s worth of people as individuals. The most individuals you will meet in your lifetime’s about three to five thousand, and the most individuals you will KNOW as individuals is about a hundred and fifty. Everybody else you instantly judge and relegate to one of a series of pigeonholes you’ve made up or accepted blindly from cultural osmosis.
Every day you make value judgments on whether to avoid people or interact with them, and how to interact if you so choose. You follow unwritten rules of protocol. You separate your level of interaction and topics of conversation by class, gender, age, etc. You always do this, for if you didn’t you’d be a very odd person indeed, and called out on it almost immediately. So if you’re not constantly judging, you’re either a hypocrite or a fool.
And I’m willing to be you’re not a fool.
December 1, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Nalano: Yeah, I agree, but when did I say i wasn’t a judgmental person?? And please see my above comments as well.
December 1, 2009 at 5:47 pm
I think Nalano was talking about Novan’s comment, rather than commenting on your judgmental (or lack thereof, I really don’t know) nature.
In any case, Nalano, I believe you committed the logical fallacy of the ad hominem attack. You responded to Novan’s comment by attacking him as a person.
In any case, I think when people say “judge” they don’t mean the literal “I am making a decision about this person” judge. I think the intended statement is that the snap decision is a negative one. I think in this context, Novan’s comment makes more sense.
December 1, 2009 at 5:59 pm
What Andrew said, WR: I was replying to Novan.
However, Andrew, Novan’s judgment was, ironically enough, itself negative. And I’m willing to be that he thought it important enough to put metaphorical pen to paper to express it specifically BECAUSE it was negative.
Comments boards, news feeds, etc, are self-selectors, and people are far more likely to respond to something they DON’T like rather than something they DO. That’s why the media spins crisis after scandal after crisis to the point of distortion. That’s why we get into constant flamewars.
I stick to my guns: It’s hypocrisy to say otherwise.
December 1, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Nanalo: My apologies. I shall pledge to actually pay attention in the future. And i agree with your comments about, er, comments as well.
December 2, 2009 at 12:03 am
I stick to my guns; but only because I dropped them into a bucket of superglue by mistake.
December 4, 2009 at 10:08 pm
The moment I happened to read this could not have been more fitting. I had a single, one-hour class this morning, and had to take public transit there and back, taking an hour each way, waiting far too long standing in frost to sit in a very depressing vehicle (at least it’s warm in there). Though I haven’t had all of the thoughts mentioned in this comic, I Understand completely where this kind of thought comes from. There’s something to be said for the inspiring quality of boredom and repetition, I suppose.
December 8, 2009 at 3:19 pm
God. I’m sorry Winston, but that was just awful.
Bigger than my computer screen in two dimensions, so I had to scroll hither and thither to read all of it.
Tiny font hurting my eyes and a list organized in such a random and uneven spatial association that I rarely knew where to look next.
Whiny, rant-like tone without any appeal or insightfulness.
Visuals that barely illustrate the writing
No consistent tone, voice, or theme except tangential relation to buses.
This is massively unpleasant.
December 10, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Pretty much the TTC in a nutshell.
I applaud you.
December 28, 2009 at 6:24 am
i kneww it was the TTC, this is insanely perfect, i hear ya!
January 1, 2010 at 11:50 pm
No. 1 Da..
you dont need to flame the author. If the font is too small – get some skills and just hit [Ctrl +] to re-size html text.
As for relevance, I found many great revelations – in particular, the issue attached to wondering whats wrong with the attractive person traveling the bus. Maybe many people on the bus feel they are superior to the other riders? If one doesn’t use the bus a lot, its a great way to step out of the confines of your own reality and place your self in an environment that is different enough to be thought prevoking and enllightening – an voyeuristic escapist reality without resorting to drugs or ren fair props….
nice observations,
T
January 4, 2010 at 8:54 pm
I used to take a 23 bus home. Is was Dawes road, however.
January 10, 2010 at 1:05 pm
I just discovered this comic for the first time. While I was going through them, where yu live didn’t even occur to me. Until I saw this one. I moved to Toronto a few months ago from Ottawa, and when I saw this (The blue lights especially) I said to myself, “either everywhere in the country except Ottawa has buses like this, or this is a TTC bus.” I guessed the latter. I’m pretty proud of myself.
February 3, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Amen.
February 4, 2010 at 4:22 pm
helo guys do ya’ll remember that time the TTC guy was caught napping? Surprise surprise, yesterday another TTC driver, who’s bus was 15 minutes late decided to take a 7 minute ‘donut break’. He left the passengers stuck in the bus. He even threatened the passenger who confronted him! Check it out, (and digg it to make it viral) –
http://digg.com/world_news/Toronto_TTC_bus_driver_s_regular_donut_break_caught_on_video
March 24, 2010 at 1:11 pm
I very much enjoyed this rant. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only person in the world to notice these things. I was beginning to think I had a screw lose somewhere 😉
April 7, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Genius. Bloody genius, especially in relation to the TTC.
April 28, 2010 at 9:38 pm
I remember the TV-series about the teddy bear who had an ink stain, was cast into the reject bin, and who later got super powers.
June 24, 2010 at 7:31 am
liked the event horizon black hole reference. made me feel smart (useless comment 🙂 )
July 21, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Well now “box of assorted woodland creatures – with extra voles” is gonna be at the top of my Christmas list for this year – right under “world peace”, that is!
September 11, 2010 at 9:46 pm
I totally agree with #5. One of the silliest porns I ever saw was set on a bus rolling through a city. I hear there’s a whole website filled with them, but I cba to pay to check it out.
September 20, 2010 at 12:58 am
The subtext made me chuckle.
September 21, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Oh, my word! “Subnromality” is easily the best comic I’ve seen in years. I can’t pull myself away. Who are you and how have you been hiding in plain sight all this time?
October 25, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Really cool website, I enjoyed reading it..
November 17, 2010 at 8:16 am
Cars are the bane of my existence. for #3 alone, you are my hero sir.
Thank You
January 7, 2011 at 12:02 am
…butane in my veins, so I’m out to read the funnies | with my burning eyeballs, due to massive text walls | like Lasik cover-alls and lemon juice eyedrops.
January 16, 2011 at 9:09 pm
I LOVE YOU.
January 18, 2011 at 6:30 am
Agreed!
Fuck everything about cars.
Everything should be pedestrian and mass-transit central, without the stigma and the creepiness
May 1, 2011 at 10:20 pm
This describes the PVTA buses in Western MA. to a fucking T, only minus the bearded drivers. I think they have some kind of dress code. I’ve seen several gems of buslife: The tattooed, mohawked dude in a pressed shirt and tie, muttering to himself about being a “damn bass assassin!” The horrible, racist old lady who started ranting incoherently until she reached her stop. The drunk who burst into song. The other drunk who loudly admonished everyone about god-knows-what in unintelligible slurrings while messily eating a box of wings and throwing the bones in the aisle. The guy who openly tried to sell me drugs in the middle of a crowded bus.
But if you really want to become a vicious, miserable, soulless misanthrope in the course of an hour, wait at the Springfield Bus Terminal. A seething, overcrowded den of unremitting grotesqueness and rampant sexual harassment, stewing in the vapor of hundreds of chronically unwashed individuals.
August 7, 2011 at 3:25 am
I used to take the TTC too [I’m in Hong Kong now] I was just browsing your old comments….
NUMBER 10 hit right on the spot.
My girlfriend and I always bemoan the fact HOW FEW PEOPLE ACTUALLY GO TO THE BACK OF THE $*(@#*%)%@#(* BUS.
They even have signs on the window asking them to move back. You know what hits the nail? EVEN when the bus driver is PERSONALLY asking, or using that automated bus to ask people to move back…THE FURTHEST THEY GET IS ALMOST ALWAYS JUST AT THE STAIRS.
Even tho the back has plenty of space to stand, no, it doesn’t exist as a standing space.
October 31, 2014 at 10:45 am
“Why charge comparatively little for a single fare”… not completely true. Here in Manchester, England, where the bus service has indeed been privatised, I find the pricing structure baffling. it costs £2.80 to travel the five or six miles from Stockport to Manchester, on the 192 route which has fifty or so stops. (a 45 minute trip). But to travel three or four stops, the minimum fare is £1.60. I’ve never worked this one out.
Also, the privatised company, Stagecoach, is set up to maximise profit for its shareholders. It has been calculated that 17 pence in every pound you spend on your bus ticket goes straight into the pockets of shareholders. They say travel on a Stagecoach, get robbed….