West of Bathurst, by Kari Maaren
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Saturday, September 14, 2013

West of Bathurst 1358

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Today's comic is dedicated to Ruediger Willenberg, who won this comic in the 2013 Massey Talent Auction.  (I still owe one other person a comic; that one's coming soon.  Stay tuned.)  Ruedi has, ever since he came to the College, been a passionate advocate for evening film showings.  I don't know if he ever runs into this particular problem, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he did.

The reference to The Sting is there because I remember the first time Ruedi showed it (he's done it twice now), mainly due to what happened during the showing.  We were maybe five minutes from the end of the film, the only bit of the movie that actually involves a shootout, when there was a loud bang, and glass sprayed about fifteen feet into the room.  We stopped the movie and discovered that something had made a small hole in the window.  As it looked very much as if it may have been a bullet, we phoned the campus police, who agreed that someone had shot at the window.  They summoned the actual police.  The cops searched for a bullet but couldn't find one; they eventually concluded that someone had simply thrown a rock at the window (which would have been very difficult to do with a ten-foot-tall wall in the way; a gunshot, on the other hand, would have been possible, as someone could have been aiming from one of the buildings across the street).  That glass made it pretty far into the room.  Master Fraser's theory was that it was a meteorite.  I quite liked that one.

At any rate, I'll never be able to think about The Sting without remembering that night.  And no, I've still not seen the last five minutes of the film.

Saturday, September 14, 2013
Panel 1: The title panel of this Sunday-style colour comic is a parody of the poster of the film The Sting. Baldwin, in the Robert Redford role, is dressed in a red suit and cap and has an arm slung over the shoulder of one-off character Ruediger Willenberg, or Ruedi, who is in Paul Newman's role and is wearing a dark red hat, an orange shirt, and a loud tie. Large red words beside them read "West of Bathurst," while smaller black words say "By Kari Maaren."

Panel 2: Ruedi is sitting at a table and typing on a laptop. A DVD case sits beside him on the table.

Caption: 11:52 a.m.

Ruedi [typing on computer]: Hello, everyone. I'll be showing The Sting at 8:00 tonight in the Upper Library. Please come out.

Panel 3:

Caption:
12:07 p.m.

Ruedi [typing]: Hi...by popular request, The Sting will be replaced by Sleepless in Seattle. There will be snacks!

Panel 4:

Caption: 12:31 p.m.

Ruedi [typing]: I have been informed that if I try to show Sleepless in Seattle, several people will (and I quote) "kill it with fire." We'll be watching Finding Nemo.

Panel 5:

Caption: 12:34 p.m.

Ruedi [typing]: Janet and Steve have stolen my copy of Finding Nemo and thrown it into the fish pond. Come by to see The Fifth Element.

Panel 6:

Caption: 1:06 p.m.

Ruedi: Apparently, I am a soulless hypocrite with no taste who deserves to be flung to my death from the top of the CN Tower. We're now watching Jaws.

Panel 7: Ruedi massages his temple as Baldwin picks up the DVD.

Caption: 2:35 p.m.

Ruedi
[typing]: Due to a complaint from a Junior Fellow with a violent fear of sharks, the film shown tonight will be The Sting.

Baldwin: Man, I hate this movie.

Alt-Text: It's the Circle of Consensus, and it moves us all.

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