Comments on: Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip

By: Lost: The Complete Sixth Season (and the Complete Collection) » DVDs Worth Watching

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:31:33 +0000

[...] appropriate to attach Lost to a famous literary quote, especially one whose actual origins are widely disputed. (The original quotation — “Talking about music is like dancing about architecture” [...]

By: Susie Derkins no.7

Susie Derkins no.7 — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:15:20 +0000

Oh for crying out loud.

It’s neither Zappa nor Mull; it’s Steve Martin.

By: vid

vid — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:17:33 +0000

I’ll definitely be on the lookout for this. C&H is probably my favorite comic strip ever.

By: James Schee

James Schee — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:36:54 +0000

I’d be curious to see this, as I loved Calvin & Hobbes. It was one of the very few comic strips my dad read and loved, and we could talk about.

The author putting himself in is okay with me, sort of like how I want to see that documentary movie they made “Looking for John Hughes” if it ever is released. (given Hughes’s recent death)

By: Johanna

Johanna — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:12:51 +0000

Now that KC’s done with it, I’ve started reading the book myself. After getting into the first chapter, I made a similar comment, that his criticism of the writer making himself part of the story seemed a little harsh. He told me to wait, because it got a lot worse later. So I’m curious to see what we both think after we read further.

By: Ciao Howdy

Ciao Howdy — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:55:57 +0000

After reading Chapter 1 of the book, I have to disagree with this review’s take on it. I thought Martell wrote with so much love about the comic itself that it seemed inevitable he’d use the cliffhanger ending–and it propels you nicely in Chapter 2. I look forward to the rest of the material in October.

By: Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment » Everyone’s A Critic: A roundup of comic book reviews and thinkpieces

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:36:34 +0000

[...] KC Carlson reviews Looking for Calvin and Hobbes by Nevin Martel, a book I was completely unaware of until [...]

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:56:10 +0000

It DOES sound like a Zappa-ism. And I actually own a copy of the Musician magazine with the Elvis Costello quote mentioned in the article, so it is accurate up to a point. Reading between the lines of the article, I wonder if the interviewer simply inserted – even though Elvis didn’t actually say it – it because it sounded cool and not out of character for EC.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:34:40 +0000

Dave, KC says:

Yeah, I saw that article as well — and others — as I researched this for several hours. (This is why I don’t write more reviews!)

This question has baffled me for years — and it just keeps getting worse and worse as more and more people use the phrase without attribution. Because it’s such a great one to steal!

I’m pretty sure this predates the internet, as (I think) I’ve been hearing this quote for decades — at least since the early 1980′s and probably before. And I recall reading somewhere that Zappa said it. But then again, I also read somewhere that it was actually Mull. (This sticks in my head because I’m a fan of Mull’s work, and yet, it sounds like something Zappa might say.)

Anyway, thinking about this (as well as killer pain from my morning trip to the dentist) drove me back to to the internets for more research… And I found this: http://ttutheory.blogspot.com/2007/02/writing-about-music.html Scroll down to the comment. The column itself doesn’t have anything to do with what we’re talking about, although it’s interesting.

Gail Zappa is, of course, Frank’s widow. And if you click on her name there, it takes you directly to Zappa.com.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:07:02 +0000

“Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.”

I’ve always thought Elvis Costello said it first. Turns out I was 1/2 right. Googling the phrase yielded this article: http://www.pacifier.com/~ascott/they/tamildaa.htm

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:47:49 +0000

Thank you. It’s been corrected. I think someone had Pushing Daisies’ Lee Pace on the mind when putting this together. :)

By: Calvin Hobbes

Calvin Hobbes — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:45:42 +0000

Watterson’s editor’s name is Lee Salem. You may want to fix this.