Comments on: Speak for the Tick, Capybara http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/07/01/speak-for-the-tick-capybara/ Jeff VanderMeer Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:54:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Jeff VanderMeer http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/07/01/speak-for-the-tick-capybara/comment-page-1/#comment-23963 Jeff VanderMeer Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:37:10 +0000 http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/?p=5128#comment-23963 Steve--ya know, I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're right. There probably weren't/aren't that many people who are part of fairs who bring capybaras with them. So there might well be some connection. Steve–ya know, I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’re right. There probably weren’t/aren’t that many people who are part of fairs who bring capybaras with them. So there might well be some connection.

]]> By: Hellbound Heart http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/07/01/speak-for-the-tick-capybara/comment-page-1/#comment-23961 Hellbound Heart Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:48:56 +0000 http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/?p=5128#comment-23961 oh woe is me, i've never seen the tick....in my cultural and geographical isolation my childhood was limited to skippy, the bush kangaroo, doctor who and the kenny everett video show........ peace and love....... oh woe is me, i’ve never seen the tick….in my cultural and geographical isolation my childhood was limited to skippy, the bush kangaroo, doctor who and the kenny everett video show……..

peace and love…….

]]> By: J. Steven York http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/07/01/speak-for-the-tick-capybara/comment-page-1/#comment-23958 J. Steven York Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:11:33 +0000 http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/?p=5128#comment-23958 Actually, I'm coming in late, the "Tick" mention on Facebook having finally gotten my attention (I'd seen the capybara references before, but hadn't followed up on them). Just now went back to read the interview. Fascinating stuff. Interesting that we both had our first capybara encounter the same way. Given that I'm about ten years older then you, and you saw yours in your teens, while I was quite young, it certainly couldn't be the same capy. But could it have been the same exhibitor? How many people could be traveling with carnivals showing capybaras? One of the more unlikely occupations I've ever heard of. It is sad to think of the animals, being trucked around the country, cooped in those little cages being gawked and poked by rubes. You'd like to imagine that during off-hours they were taken for long walks and a swim in the nearest pond, but that seems sadly unlikely. Actually, I’m coming in late, the “Tick” mention on Facebook having finally gotten my attention (I’d seen the capybara references before, but hadn’t followed up on them). Just now went back to read the interview. Fascinating stuff.

Interesting that we both had our first capybara encounter the same way. Given that I’m about ten years older then you, and you saw yours in your teens, while I was quite young, it certainly couldn’t be the same capy. But could it have been the same exhibitor? How many people could be traveling with carnivals showing capybaras? One of the more unlikely occupations I’ve ever heard of.

It is sad to think of the animals, being trucked around the country, cooped in those little cages being gawked and poked by rubes. You’d like to imagine that during off-hours they were taken for long walks and a swim in the nearest pond, but that seems sadly unlikely.

]]> By: Jeff VanderMeer http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/07/01/speak-for-the-tick-capybara/comment-page-1/#comment-23957 Jeff VanderMeer Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:42:49 +0000 http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/?p=5128#comment-23957 Steve--that was, sadly, my first encounter with a caybara, too. (I assume you've seen the interview downriver.) That's hilarious re the fast-food toys!!! Jef Steve–that was, sadly, my first encounter with a caybara, too. (I assume you’ve seen the interview downriver.)

That’s hilarious re the fast-food toys!!!

Jef

]]> By: Steve York http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/07/01/speak-for-the-tick-capybara/comment-page-1/#comment-23955 Steve York Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:17:38 +0000 http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/?p=5128#comment-23955 Loved the Tick cartoon, and Speak especially. Suspiciously, he could only "talk" when the Tick had just received some sort of horrid head-injury. There were a few Tick fast-food toys made, I have most of them. As I recall, the "Speak" toy has a hypodermic-style plunger in his butt that can be used to shoot water out of his nose. Does it get any better than that? Speaking (for the last time) of Capybara, I'll never forget the first time I saw one. I was a small boy, and it was on a carnival side-show. The barker was going on about the "world's largest rat." I had to see it, and somehow convinced my notoriously tight dad to cough up the ten cents or whatever to get into the tent. There was a lone, sad-looking capybara in a wire-metal-cage. The sign over the cage explained that it really WASN'T a rat, though it was a rodent. I wasn't disappointed, possibly because it was from South America, which was pretty cool. I bragged about it later to my friends at school. As I recall, they were not impressed. Loved the Tick cartoon, and Speak especially. Suspiciously, he could only “talk” when the Tick had just received some sort of horrid head-injury. There were a few Tick fast-food toys made, I have most of them. As I recall, the “Speak” toy has a hypodermic-style plunger in his butt that can be used to shoot water out of his nose. Does it get any better than that?

Speaking (for the last time) of Capybara, I’ll never forget the first time I saw one. I was a small boy, and it was on a carnival side-show. The barker was going on about the “world’s largest rat.” I had to see it, and somehow convinced my notoriously tight dad to cough up the ten cents or whatever to get into the tent. There was a lone, sad-looking capybara in a wire-metal-cage. The sign over the cage explained that it really WASN’T a rat, though it was a rodent. I wasn’t disappointed, possibly because it was from South America, which was pretty cool. I bragged about it later to my friends at school. As I recall, they were not impressed.

]]>