Cool Hand Luke PM

Of course, the fifty 'X' comment takes off on Luke saying he can eat 50 eggs in the movie. Does he do it? You'll have to go back and watch it. This movie was chosen because of the 'failure to communicate' line. What better negative comment can be levied against a project manager?

I tried to find a way to have the PM say he felt like a 'new man' as a way to tie in Paul Newman's name, but it did not work. I did add in the phrase 'cool hand, Luke,' so that will have to do.

Ricky Ricardo PM

The trick with pointing your readers to your punch line is twofold. First, don't get them there too early. That has sometimes forced me to change what the final punchline was. Second, they need to buy into the premise. So, for Ricky Ricardo, I needed at least one phrase that was uniquely his. I knew I wanted either "Lucy, I'm home" or "Lucy, you got some 'splaining to do." Once I found the phrases, I had to either name a specific character (which I do not like to do) or use something that sounded like the name. Then, when I thought of loose-y, I knew what my final panel would be. Then, I established that Ricky was in "show business" and added the final "Waaah" of Lucy Ricardo.

Dirty Harry PM

Today's strip build on the famous name PM series I started last week. I had to look up some quotes to add verisimilitude (good word, huh?) to the cartoon. In the final panel, I decided to mention documents instead of bullets for the quote to be closer to the original. I also adjusted the cartoon so that I used characters of different colors than my normal Mr. Blue and Mr. Green.

Sick Acronyms

If you came here looking for acronyms that are sick, you are in the wrong place. Since I was out of the office yesterday, I decided to write a cartoon about being sick. So, Mr. Blue needed to be the one who misinterpreted Mr. Green's comments as a series of acronyms for being sick.

Obi Wan PM

I was trying to come up with some new ideas this morning for Clarity of Vision. This one came to me as I considered what could be funny about the project reviews we are performing now. What if we could wave away the auditor using the Force? So, the trick Obi Wan pulled on Alderaan would be very useful. That led to a few more ideas from other movies that will be coming up soon.

Reading on Vacation

There's a guy at work that told me his weekly status report was Science Fiction at its best. That led to this once I figured out how to expand the idea to four panels. I decided to link what they read to what they write.

Relish

Let's take a look at the creation process for today's cartoon. My original note says "eat something with relish. a banana split with relish sounds horrible." OK, so I knew that I wanted to play with the word relish and compare/contrast between its meanings. However, the concept did not feel right for a four panel strip. So, since I do have a birthday party on Saturday, I decided to use that theme for my wordplay. I also wanted to be sure everyone knew what the definitions were, so I added an explanation in panel four. Once I did that, I knew Mr. Blue would say "relish relish." That led to Mr. Green's common sorry-I-mentioned-this type final response.

And that's how I get to my completed concept.

Fall Phrases

For some reason, when I was deciding what today's CoV would cover, I got stuck on trying to use the word FALL in as many ways as I could. When the words did not fall as I had hoped, I added a misinterpretation of the letters BFF to fill the frames.

Terrain

Thanks to Dad for saying terrain during our vacation. And yes, it is beautiful up there.

Altercation

I was driving home last night when someone used the word 'altercation' on the radio. My mind took off on the first syllable and that's where this came from.

Homemade Cards

Today's cartoon is courtesy of my oldest granddaughter. I did not even have to write anything.

Bad Storm

A crazy storm blew through last night. In addition to finishing off our lemon tree, it carried a lot of noise that spooked our dog. The bed did feel like one of those old-fashioned Magic fingers beds. You know, where you put in a quarter and it shakes for a while? Anyway, I knew immediately that the storm would be a good topic for today's cartoon.

New HR System Live

Our new HR system based on Peoplesoft goes live today. I don't know what will change as a result, but I am hoping it is not quite as drastic as today's cartoon. When I started writing it this morning, all I knew was that I wanted it to be about the HR system. Then, I decided to have the system make someone prove they were themselves and how that could be impossible. The final panel was written and I had to go back and adjust the others to fit the new scenario.

HR Website

A new HR website is going into production tomorrow. The old one has been down for over a week. I am not sure exactly how it has changed, but it supposedly will set a new standard in service. So, I had to wonder how the jobs of the HR team will change if the website assumes additional capabilities.

I created the cartoon, but I really wanted someone to ask if they could give themselves a raise. So, I added that, rearranged some comments, and switched who said what to make it flow.

Craigslist Servers

When the disable the users comment came up in a meeting the other day, my mind drifted to what other IT-ish words could be misinterpreted. Sure, servers came to mind and while it seems obvious, I decided it was worth capturing. In the final panel, I almost had Mr. Green commenting that Mr. Blue probably thought routers were the guys that delivered papers every morning. Then I decided to stay with my original panel. Which do you think would have worked better?