Wednesday, June 27, 2007

I Love Roz Chast

I have been a fan of the cartoonist Roz Chast for more than 20 years now, since first discovering her in my father's copies of the New Yorker magazine back when I was in high school. Now that I am a grown-up (well kind of) and living in New York, I find many of her drawings funny on a different level-- perhaps it is some kind of rite of passage, that you know you've truly become a New Yorker when you see your life in a Roz Chast cartoon!

Back in February of 2006, I wrote a post called "The Ick Factor," about the money I waste when I let food go bad, or at least when I smell it and suspect it may have gone bad, even if I'm not 100% sure. So when I saw Roz Chast's cartoon in the June 25th issue of the New Yorker, called "Old Family Recipes," I had to laugh at the cartoon, and at myself too.
I'd love to just reproduce the cartoon here, but to do so legally, I'd have to pay the Cartoon Bank $250, or since I give my ad revenue to charity, maybe I could get their non-profit rate of $200. Sorry everyone, but I'm not going for it! You can click through the link to the Cartoon Bank site to see it, or read the exciting description below:

Old Family Recipes
"Questionable Chicken: Find some chicken at the back of the refrigerator. Smell it. Then ask somebody else to smell it. Throw it in the garbage." [Man and woman look very disturbed while examining obviously odorous pan of chicken.]
"Leftovers à la Ugh: Take out all your leftovers and gaze at them. Get really depressed. Dispose of them immediately." [Bouffant-haired woman surveys table full of reeking takeout containers and tupperware.]
"Hot Dogs in Reality Sauce: Locate package of hot dogs. Throw away the ones that look like Lincoln Logs. Then toss the rest." [Man frowns while holding smelly-looking half-package of hotdogs above a trashcan.]

This one is definitely going on my fridge-- the perfect place for it!

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