2014/09/29 - Time Zone Out

[DigitalMan]

... And only now do I wonder, how is he using that sort of phone, outside?

[SuperStar]

They may be needed to fight the Gargoyles.

That could be a VERY strong possibility. All that's left now is to add Grape and Maxwell into the mix and you've got Keene's new "Temple Crashers" team! (Or a real good opportunity for a "Ghostbusters" parody)

I'm all for this.

[Welsh Halfwit]

They may be needed to fight the Gargoyles.

That could be a VERY strong possibility. All that's left now is to add Grape and Maxwell into the mix and you've got Keene's new "Temple Crashers" team! (Or a real good opportunity for a "Ghostbusters" parody)

I'm all for this.

Grape as Venkman?

[Welsh Halfwit]

... And only now do I wonder, how is he using that sort of phone, outside?

3 options.

1. He's by the wall of his house.

2. He's wi-fi connected and it's Skype.

3. He's Peanut.

If options 1 and 2 fail then option 3 applies.

[renato]

... And only now do I wonder, how is he using that sort of phone, outside?

3 options...

Applying Occam's Razor here, option four is a good one:
a really loooong cable

[SuperStar]

... And only now do I wonder, how is he using that sort of phone, outside?

3 options...

Applying Occam's Razor here, option four is a good one:
a really loooong cable

That is a great pic for great, can't wait for her to show up again.

[Dissension]

How familiar are y'all with cordless phone handsets?

[Serence Frostbite]

How familiar are y'all with cordless phone handsets?

that's a thing ?

[renato]

How familiar are y'all with cordless phone handsets?

A lot, Diss, selling those for a long time, and let me state that this one doesn't looks to me a cordless phone.
And moreso, isn't a solid proof Rick's depiction of Sandwich's house phone?

[rickgriffin]

How familiar are y'all with cordless phone handsets?

A lot, Diss, selling those for a long time, and let me state that this one doesn't looks to me a cordless phone.
And moreso, isn't a solid proof Rick's depiction of Sandwich's house phone?

NEW MODEL cordless phones look like old cell phones.

There was a time when cordless phones looked like that to fit the old-style cradle.

[Argent]

Don't think I've ever seen a cordless phone that looked like a Model 500/Princess handset. Sure you're not thinking of the Trimline?

[Timon64]

Good to see that things are still on nice terms with Peanut and Tarot
And Fido dude calm yourself, you're a good dog but worrying won't bring her back faster, on one hand it may seem that Peanut doesn't care too much about Tarot's condition as Fido does for Sabrina...or maybe its because Peanut just has that much faith in Tarot. They are big girls ya know and can handle themselves, and they know they have their partners ready to move heaven and earth to get to them and help should they need it, well at least Fido anyway. Have a little more trust dude
Tarot is sad about losing part of her job huh? Could it be that she really did like the power and title of an esteemed psychic, but just disliked the "roommate" so to speak?, and maybe did it even make her feel special in a way? Eh...my thoughts.
And Peanut my man, rule 1 of dating, never brush off your lady's feelings, ah well live and learn, now excuse me while I defeat the FinalHazard

[Shadowstar23]

This is completely random question.
Has the sandwich house always been blue or are they at the Wolf house?

[Amazee Dayzee]

I so totally think that Sabrina should definitely bring Fido back a boomerang.

[Soerix]

[ Time Zone Out ]

Title Text: You might think Peanut is being callous but let's face it: you do the same for your dog

Well, you can say that Peanut is looking kinda callous here. Maybe he thinks that Tarot is just off for a safe solo trip offshore for a while before coming back (that may be why he greets her back from Australia in such a normal, common way). Or maybe not. I don't know.
After all, maybe Tarot didn't tell him much about this trip to Australia. Or maybe he isn't worrying because he's aware of her having her powers (and Dragon?) keeping her safe. Again, I don't know.
Also, I thought he was pretty good friends with Sabrina at that point (he's always been good friends with pretty much everyone anyway ^^), and one could think he would care more about her. So maybe that reinforces the "it's just a little errand trip", but his saying "probably" is still kinda callous of him toward Sabrina.
What's just as callous is that, from what I understand, he knows Tarot is sad, and instead of wanting to comfort her, all he thinks about is his dinner (or maybe I understand it wrongly?). That's pretty un-Peanut-like, considering that he warmly comforted Grape about her worries about Res.
Maybe at the point of this strip, he's taking his relationship with Tarot for granted, though he is later seen behaving pretty well as her boyfriend during the adventure in the past, and in his sleepover with Tarot.
Finally, two things I don't understand:
1) What does Fido mean by "On second thought, it's probably better that I wait"? Does that mean he too only thought about asking if dinner was going to be on time? (which seems quite unlikely considering the strong mutual love between him and Sabrina, and his worrying about Sabrina's safety here)
2) What does Rick mean in the title text by "let's face it: you do the same for your dog"?

[Obbl]

My interpretation of the last panel:
Peanut is sad because he misses Tarot, and he's telling Fido (via allegory) not to ask him any more questions that make him reflect any further on that matter. I'll admit that this is the strip I've had the most trouble understanding, but after a lot of thought, that is what I got out. Dunno if it's correct.
If my reasoning is true, then the title text is saying that you might think Peanut is being callous for telling Fido off, but that you do the same thing to your dog when they pop in with their cheerfully demanding optimism while you're having a bad day.

[Soerix]

For the title text, I don't know if your interpretation is correct. It may be.
And I'm not sure if Peanut is really missing Tarot, considering his reaction in this strip.
As for your allegory theory, I don't know. Just like you, I find it hard to understand this strip, especially to understand Peanut's attitude/reaction. I mean, I understand that he may have decided not to think too much about Tarot's mystical adventures, but still, his shrugging when saying "I dunno. Probably." kinda translates to "I don't really care about if Sabrina lives or dies". At least that was my interpretation on it. And that's why, looking back at this, I'm still kinda shocked that Peanut would react that way in this strip.

[Obbl]

Considering your wholly justified shock that Peanut would respond that way, I would posit that that is, in fact, not how Peanut responded.
Still a difficult strip to parse, but I think we can rule that one out.

[Argent]

Peanut is just a bit ADHD. I can totally relate.

[GameCobra]

I always got the interpretation here that Peanut is trying to warn Fido that it's not a good idea to ask questions when people are sad, which i'm sure Peanut picked up on while talking to Tarot and believed the whole trip was sad for them.

I'm only worried i mightbe misreading the alt-text as something like "Everyone gets callous with their dog eventually"

[Soerix]

I always got the interpretation here that Peanut is trying to warn Fido that it's not a good idea to ask questions when people are sad, which i'm sure Peanut picked up on while talking to Tarot and believed the whole trip was sad for them.

I see!
Also, I've read the plot description of this strip on the Housepets wiki: it seems more and more likely that Peanut probably says his "ask if dinner is gonna be on time or not" line in a non-literal, figurative way to refer to stupid/inappropriate questions in times of other people's angst.
The thing is, what bothered me the most is that Rick himself says that we might think that Peanut is being "callous" here. Also, after re-reading the Nothing More Than Feelings strip from just last year, it seemed to me that Peanut says (in the second panel) that he used to not care that much about Tarot's feelings (even though Peanut is full of good intentions in this strip ), which I thought was a reference to his non-caring attitude in the Time Zone Out strip.
But anyway, as long as this strip with Fido doesn't contradict Peanut's caring nature and does NOT indicate that, at that moment, he cares more about playing his video games than about Tarot & Sabrina being safe, fine by me. ^^
Though I still don't understand Fido's line in the last panel. And why would "Are you and the others alright?" be a stupid/inappropriate question to ask?

[Argent]

Peanut is not being callous, he's being easily distracted and kind of clueless.