Whose mind is it anyway?

[Rip Tanion]

Well if you suscribe to the theory some have put forth in this thread, that Sean is but a figment of Sophie's psychosis, then the blizzard shouldn't bother him.

Then again, there could be a space heater in that shoppingcart of his. That and a bottle of cheap booze to warm his cockles.

the damn thing can be seen from pretty much every seat at Fenway

Aren't there two CITGO signs; one in Fenway, and one a few blocks away in Kenmore Square? I was refering to the latter. You see it in the backround after Kevin Costenr and James Earl Jones leave the ballpark, and are standing in the street. That's the one we had in the backround when we took our photo (we were on the street, not inside the ballpark, at the time). Of course, I haven't been there since '95, and we did plenty of drinking that weekend, so I defer to you native chowder-heads (I use that term lovingly) for the answers.

Are there still no beer vendors in the stands at Fenway?

Rip, your family had a gas station policy?

I like to think of it as tradition and brand loyalty. I a Mobil man, like my father before me, and his father before him. My great-grandfather was an immigrant from the Old Country who never learned to drive. He just rode the Brooklyn trolleys.

[Hunter of Wisdom]

That and a bottle of cheap booze to warm his cockles.

That wouldn't actually help keep him alive. Alcohol widens the blood vessels, which makes you feel warmer since you get more blood flow to the skin, but this actually helps the heat escape your body, thus helping you freeze to death.
But I don't get the impression that Sean's a boozer. Gods knows what I'm basing that on, though .

[Veleno]

But I don't get the impression that Sean's a boozer. Gods knows what I'm basing that on, though .

I'd guess it's because he's not holding a bottle inside a brown paper bag.

[Rip Tanion]

Thanks for the biology lesson, Hunter. I guess that explains why I was freezing, walking on the Boardwalk, after drinking at the Hooters in the Trop, last Saturday night.

a bottle inside a brown paper bag.

What are the current "open container" laws in Boston? Here in New York, a paper bag won't save you from a ticket anymore.

[Guest]

To totally depart from the current thread of discussion, I just wanted to say that I love this daily improv. I can't get over how good Scott is to us-- this has definitely been my favourite so far, and the quality is miles beyond most comics that you read in a shop.

I'm similarly astonished that he can produce something of this quality in just an hour each day.

Thanks!

[turq]

This seems to be one of the most deeply thought-out Improvs ever. It's one of the most beautiful, and original, love stories I've ever seen.

In high school a friend of mine once said, "Why don't you ever see a movie about two ugly people falling in love?" It's refreshing to see a storyteller defying Hollywood conventions.

And in response to some people's theory here, I think that Sean and Sophie are two distinct, separate people who, well, always have someone to talk to. I don't think one is a figment of the other's imagination; twists like that don't happen in stories when you suspect them early on. Besides, the priest is talking to both of them (and yes, I know someone is going to suggest the priest -- or Sophie -- is really imaginary!)

[Veleno]

Thanks for the biology lesson, Hunter. I guess that explains why I was freezing, walking on the Boardwalk, after drinking at the Hooters in the Trop, last Saturday night.

a bottle inside a brown paper bag.

What are the current "open container" laws in Boston? Here in New York, a paper bag won't save you from a ticket anymore.

Heh. I know what you mean. Here at UCSB you can't have an open container, if you have a cup you must be holding it upsidedown, and last call is midnight instead of 2am.

[DON the IDEA GUY]

Why don't you ever see a movie about two ugly people falling in love?

I know this is simply opinion, but I'd say Barfly with Mickey Rourke and theatrically soused Faye Dunaway made a pretty ugly couple.

I haven't actually seen About Schmidt, but the promos showed Jack Nicholson and a hot-tubbing Kathy Bates -- not exactly a gorgeous couple.

~DON

[mecherath]

Today's update reminds me of a joke my pastor often tells:

Q: What do you do about a crowded elevator?
A: Turn to your neighbor and say, "Friend, are you saved?"

I wonder if the next improv will be soon enough to be influenced by the goings on in San Francisco...

[Rip Tanion]

an alternate universe where Scott has a beard

Hmmm, could that be our priest? Is Father Leary really Father McCloud? Is it me, or is there a resemblance?

Why don't you ever see a movie about two ugly people falling in love?

Go see Hellboy. It ain't Beauty and The Beast. More like homley girl and the beast.

Aren't there two CITGO signs; one in Fenway, and one a few blocks away in Kenmore Square?

OK, so I'm looking through this weeks Sports Illustrated, and the 2004 Baseball Preview section opens with a two page photo of a wide shot of a Yankee-Red Sox game from Fenway, last August. You've got the whole Green Monster in the backround, and behind it a looming CITGO sign, that looks like it outside of the park. So now I'm thinking there's only one CITGO sign. Will one of you Beantowners out there straighten me out. Like Vinny Barbarino, "I'm so confused!"

[CleverUserName01]

There may or may not have been a Citgo billboard in the park at some point, I donno (I'm not actually a Beantowner, though I've visited the ol' Hub City frequently, just a Sox fan by virtue of there being no Major League baseball here in Denver when I was a lad - though what we have these days hardly qualifies). The famous "landmark" Citgo sign is definitely outside the park, as you say.

Anyway...to drag myself (kicking and screaming) back on-topic, I'd just like to take this opportunity to say:

<comic book guy>"Best...Improv...Ever!"</comic book guy>

[spinclad]

Will one of you Beantowners out there straighten me out. "I'm so confused!"

\me thinks you're just about out of the woods now... I'm only naturalized to the Hub, and have never been a frequenter of the insides of Fenway, but both the Citgo sign and the one for White Fuel (there's a combination to induce flashbacks! first imprinted on my retinas in the early 70s...) were designed to be very visible from inside the Park.

and man... this improv is tugging at my heart. Sean, please don't be a fool... 10 below is damn cold for Boston.

[Chronosome]

The Citgo's only a few blocks from Fenway.
It's huge...you can see it from a lot of different places.

[Tim Mallos]

Say, it might be time to roll on over to page 8 there Scott. I have a little wait for the page to draw, and I'm on a cable modem....

Really enjoying the story thus far.

Tim

[GlenSS]

Is he obsessed with Roman Emperors because his other voice is one?

[wansley]

This message was edited for clarification.
Again! See note at end.

me i'm thinking (without any research to back me up...) that this here looks like the longest improv yet. Am I right?

I decided to do the research and came up with the following information. Assuming "Whose Mind Is It Anyway?" ends tomorrow, then we would have the following lengths for MI comics (the numbers in the first column are the duration of each comic in days):

108 Meadow of the Damned - Total
87 Whose Mind Is It Anyway? (hypothetical duration)
84 But No One Ever Noticed the Walrus
58 Monkey Town
54 Meadow of the Damned - Part Two
46 Meadow of the Damned - Part One
28 Somnivore
23 Flap those Flagella Like You Mean It!
21 A Bucket Full O' Kittens
20 Robots Love to Dance!
20 The Evil that Men Forget to Do
18 Proto the Pet
18 Junk Bar
15 The Accidental Dentist
14 Brad's Somber Mood
10 Uninformed Bob
9 No One Tells Interesting Jeff What To Do!
8 Meadow of the Damned - Conclusion
8 The Parallelogram's Revenge
8 Zen Dating
7 I am The Most Beautiful Dog in The World
6 When Luna Smiles
3 Man-Eating Shoes
3 Inertia Man
1 Happy Town
0 Scott McCloud ? I know you are reading this. Choose one of the many titles I have submitted.

This list is based on the duration between the ending dates of the various MI comics, and therefore these numbers are not altogether reliable. I was able to get the correct duration for "Junk Bar" because Scott announced the date he restarted MI in his weblog (otherwise, it would have had a "duration" of 403 days). However, there are some other problematic numbers. "Scott McCloud ? I know you are reading this. Choose one of the many titles I have submitted." comes out with a duration of zero because it is listed as being completed on the same date as the previous MI comic, "Monkey Town". I have a vague recollection that this is correct; this was the last MI comic before Scott took his break and I think he may have finished "Monkey Town" and done SMIKYARTCOOTMTIHS the same day.

I arbitrarily assigned a duration of one day to "Happy Town", since it was the first Improv and so I cannot use my method to come up with any number for it.

I am sure the duration of 20 days for "Robots Love to Dance!" is too long. Since "Robots" concluded on January 8, 2002 and the previous comic ("Meadow of the Damned - Part One") concluded on December, 19 2001, I assume that Scott took some time off over the Christmas/Hanukah holiday season in 2001. However, his weblog (which was much spottier in its coverage back then) is silent on this matter, as far as I can determine.

(By the way, I am surprised to see that "The Parallelogram's Revenge" was completed in only eight days. It certainly generated a much higher 'discussion' to 'duration of creation' ratio than any of the other MIs, by far.)

In conclusion, (if any of you have made it this far, congratulations!) "Mind" will be longer, in time for completion, than any other single MI entry. But if we count complete stories, as I think we should, then "Mind" doesn't look likely to surpass "Meadow of the Damned: the Complete Comic", unless Scott was wrong when he said that "Mind" was nearing its end some days ago.

I promise I won't edit this message any more, but I wanted to make it as clear as possible to someone searching these archives in the future that the duration of 87 (formerly 85 days) given for Whose Mind Is It Anyway? above was hypothetical and not actual.

[wansley]

"Mind" doesn't look likely to surpass "Meadow of the Damned: the Complete Comic", unless Scott was wrong when he said that "Mind" was nearing its end some days ago.

I just checked and "some days ago" was March 9, when:

BTW, we're close to the end. Not super-close, but close.

Since "Mind" was 'close' to its conclusion nearly a month ago and still seems to be going strong, perhaps it will surpass "Meadow" after all.

[mecherath]

I'm afraid of this development. Sophie seems to be feeling bad that she's not as into as Sean.

Has Sean read that particular book previously, or is he just one of the more literate men of the streets?

[Ninus Pritaeus]

Actually, Sean's history is slightly flawed. Julius Caesah was technically not an Emprah. He was a consul of the Old Republic, and later seized power through civil war, and was named Dictator. After Caesah's death, and some more civil war, his nephew, and adopted hier, Octavian -aka Augustus - was crowned by the Senate the first Emprah.

Ah, Tiberius, hiding out on the Isle of Capreae, swimming in a pool with young, naked girls and boys. First in a long line of Imperial pervs.

SPQR

[CleverUserName01]

Has Sean read that particular book previously, or is he just one of the more literate men of the streets?

Um...have you read the entire Improv? There is quite some discussion early on about Sean's previous experience with the book in question...

[josner]

CleverUserName01 -- thanks -- that bit had slipped my mind.

[wansley]

The lastest installment of "Mind" struck me as hysterical ... after I read it aloud!

I don't suppose Scott had this joke in mind when he gave Sean and Sophie their accents, but he should have. It certainly completely justifies the occasionally annoying task of decoding their speech, at least to me.

[Guest]

Um...have you read the entire Improv? There is quite some discussion early on about Sean's previous experience with the book in question...

That's why I asked. I read the Improv, but as some detailed research shows, this thing has been going on for some time. It just slipped my mind.

But thanks for clearing it up all the same.

[Tim Mallos]

Surprised me how good it made me feel to see Sophie smile.

Tim