Andrew got all Boolean on me and took it down to binary. He was like, "What? Opposite Day just means that the positivity of any statement you say is understood to be negated." Me: "Explain." Andrew: "If I were to say 'That bush is blue.' It would simply mean that bush is not blue. It doesn't specify another color; it only reverses the typical meaning of the statement to the contrary." I was pissed, "So Opposite Day is just a day where, if we were writing in C++ or whatever, there would be a bang before every statement? That's so lame."
I thought you were supposed to wear your underwear on your head and eat your toast upside down on Opposite Day. It's just a day of reversed logic? Beat. I mean, I guess people would die if they got too into it. They'd probably try to carry their cars to work or have their toast eat them. And where does it end? Do you become nocturnal? Do you walk in a handstand all day? Do you speak backwards? Do you speak backwards in Spanish? Clearly, my version of opposite day is impossible--and dangerous--to attempt. But I wasn't through with opposites yet.
I was hanging out with another friend later. I think we must have been talking about relationships because I decided to think about whether or not "opposites" attract. I started to tell her about the man-eating toast theory. I concluded that the statement was intrinsically nonsensical in that no two people are opposites. She agreed. I remember her saying "Right, people are just weird. Everyone's a little crazy. You just kind of try to find someone whose flaws work well together with your own. I think the best couples are people who are lucky enough to have compatible insanities. Their idiosyncrasies play off of one another."
Good call. I liked it. And "compatible insanity" is fun to say. Ok, but here's what I wanted to get to. Tank Girl.
Ok, I've gotten really into it lately. And I promise the whole "Opposite Day" buildup makes sense. You'll have to read the comic to fully understand it (the movie is amazing too [and Lori Petty is a total sex-pot], but the characters are dulled down for mass marketing. They're a lot deeper and stranger in print...Read: "The book was better." [I promise. The art is amazing.])
Ok, the main thing I have to say about Tank Girl is this. Everything works. It is difficult to describe what exactly Tank Girl accomplishes, because it is a combination of so many things. I am currently reading "The Gifting." If you read the character bios and the author's introduction, you'll get a taste of what manner of insanity you're getting yourself into. Guess what? It's highly compatible.
The overriding themes are unpredictable anarchy and adorable danger. Tank Girl is like a barbie doll covered in razor blades. She fucking rules. Booga, her kangaroo boyfriend, is a loyal, charming, sleazy doofus. Jet Girl and Barney are their wicked-cute friends. Both are slightly deranged in unique, beautiful ways. Every move these characters make is a complete "fuck you" to social norms but a totally understandable reaction if you know the score. Every page is packed with incredibly sharp dialogue and rad graphical depictions of the exciting adventures and paradoxical interactions of a few of the most lovable weirdos ever drawn up.
One of my favorite panels paints Barney with a blood-stained shirt holding an even bloodier hammer. She is pondering the source of her problems. She has an intense epiphany.
Every chapter I read makes me flip out. There are short stories, Tank Girl's poetry, and a poster or two scattered along the book to add a little panache in between installments of reckless post-apocalyptic shenanigans. Basically, the group run around having fun and fucking shit up in Australia. The combination of their spaced-out personalities and their rad Aussie slang make for very clever writing. You might think it's a little weird at the start, but give it a shot. You can read the first few pages of the stunning conclusion to one of the comics here. (Lost fans will appreciate the reference to the number 23.) And don't worry, you don't miss much from the first comic. Tank Girl and Co. won the lottery, bought a hotel, and started a feud with a family of jerks--Actually it was Booga, he killed one of them for being a douche.
And you can check out the artist behind "The Gifting" here. He's excellent.
So if you like cool stuff, check out "The Gifting" (or other comics) and see the Tank Girl movie. I promise you'll appreciate them, no matter how weird (or normal) you are. Tank Girl is a fascinating instance of alternate reality that has just the right blend of base human instinct and illogical chaos to make perfect sense...like Opposite Day, but better.
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