Talk:Gary Larson

message: It seems that Gary Larson is launching a new website for The Far Side. Here is a CNN article:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/18/entertainment/gary-larson-far-side-return-trnd/index.html
Gregorybard (talk) 04:55, 19 December 2019 (UTC)
thread_title: New Website for Far Side coming, from CNN

message: While I like the picture of Larson, why was the one of his home, taken by a Wikipedean so there is no copyright problem, removed?  I think the castle part, especially the flag, is evocative of some of his cartoons and is therefore notable and encyclopedic. Is it considered an invasion of his privacy that he is known to value highly?  Spalding 01:05, Jun 21, 2005 (UTC)
whoever deleted the picture is a pedantic moron with too much time on their hands just like everyone else here —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.224.217.39 (talk • contribs) .
:I'll bet you anything it was Knowledge Seeker. You won't believe how many images of mine he's deleted, hyperventilating over copyright issues, thinking that the world will end if one image doesn't have all rights released! I can't stand people like that--he obviously has way too much time on his hands--he has to if he can find time to stalk me and block me for every little comment I make on every little talk page that he thinks is "innapropriate". Hey, I like that--stalk and block! I think I've made a limerick! Scorpionman 20:34, 12 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Then again, it could have been someone else, not meaning to insult anyone--Scorpionman 20:36, 12 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Pictures in article

message: Since when do any public figures in North America have a right to privacy? User:Anthergene  14:10, 19 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  privacy 

message: I've just written almost the entire article of The Prehistory of the Far Side, and I've provided a link to it in the article on Larson. I wouldn't mind suggestions on it. Also, I recommend that the Larson article should have a list of Larson's books at the end, linkified if possible. marbeh raglaim 11:28, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Prehistory of the Far Side 

message: Does anyone know?  This was the readon I came to the page.
--> He stopped in 1995 because he didn't want his cartoons to become overly repetitive or stale.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.120.161.6 (talk) 15:08, 11 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why did he stop doing the far side? 

message: Has it been confirmed that the letter Gary Larson received in the Jane Goodall incident had actually come from the real Jane Goodall Institute?  The way I understand the relevant section in The Prehistory of the Far Side, the letter did not come from the Jane Goodall Institute at all, and that it was a prank someone had pulled on Gary Larson.  Any comments? -- leuce 15:10, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Jane Goodall incident 

message: The biography section and the 'Far Side' section are extremely repetitive.  The should be merged or content taken out so they do not overlap so much.  Iammaggieryan 22:53, 7 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  General Comments for page editing 

message: The biography section states that Larson graduated from high school and college in the same year (1972).  Is this correct? 66.41.249.234 (talk) 03:03, 9 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Biography 

message: The section on "There's a Hair in my Dirt" says "It is considered the completion of a Gary Larson collection". What does that mean? It makes no sense. One could certainly buy it before getting all of the Far Side collections.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by WorldAsWill (talk • contribs) 05:38, 18 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  There's a Hair in my Dirt! 

message: Although Larson being a Lutheran is implied by the "Lutheran pages" stuff at the top and bottom of the article, I could not find any actual mention of his Lutheranism in the Article itself?Masternachos (talk) 01:17, 8 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lutheran 

message: This article - http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/9597 - says it was a heart attack, not cancer as stated here.  70.50.52.111 (talk) 03:31, 19 December 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Dan is the brother. The enitre section of his brother's death seems to have been removed despite there being a page after the Jane Goodall story dedicated to his brother's death. Including a comic of what far side may have been like without his brother's influence. 2604:3D09:2276:C400:68BA:AB8:A2D9:F8B0 (talk) 15:55, 12 February 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dan - cause of death 

message: I added a reference to a 2002 article in The Spectator which mentions Larson being attacked by Frodo. Doesn't give the year that it happened. I looked in news archives but I haven't found contemporary news articles on it (the wikipedia article currently says it happened in 1988.)--Larrybob (talk) 07:52, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Chimp attack 

message: I think that, seeing as Larson is retired, the infobox should reflect this. I shall change this, unless anyone objects. ☠ QuackOfaThousandSuns (Talk) ☠ 01:46, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Retirement 

message: 2 remarks.
# About "Themes in The Far Side", I think "Animals and other creatures were frequently presented anthropomorphically" is the main theme, and the surreal nature of the comics are a result of that.
# the Jane Goodall issue deserves a section or sub-section of its own.
Thanks Kvsh5 (talk) 21:59, 13 February 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Far Side - 2 remarks 

message: Exactly how does this photo look ok? It's a picture of some sort of plastic mannequin. --Xyzzyplugh (talk) 19:24, 26 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Have you seen any of his work? This image is perfect and from the cover on one of his books with essentially the same caption(although that might be considered a primary source and therefore not satisfy notability requirements). Besides, he's retired and the value to the article of a recent photograph is very small.  Voiceofreason01 (talk) 19:33, 26 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, the photo was taken from one of his books.  It's an obvious joke, as Gary Larson is not a plastic mannequin.  So you think it's appropriate to have a joke photo in the article which is clearly not him? --Xyzzyplugh (talk) 19:47, 26 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I think that given the nature of Larson's work, the fact that this photo is from one of books with a caption identifying Larson and the small value to the article of having a more recent photo of Larson(since he is retired and apparently has no desire to be a public figure) that this photo is uniquely appropriate for the article. Perhaps if the photo caption noted where the photograph is from you'd be more comfortable with it's inclusion? Voiceofreason01 (talk) 20:00, 26 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: The photo is a copyright violation as we don't have permission to use it, so it will be removed soon enough.  If we had permission to post the photo, it would need to be posted as an example of his work, not in the infobox claiming to actually be him.  Wikipedia is not Encyclopedia Dramatica, we don't post joke photos to make our articles funny.  --Xyzzyplugh (talk) 20:11, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

text: If you wanted to add it back as an example of Larson's work (and outside of the infobox, certainly) , I would not object.  Although it would probably be deleted for copyright reasons.  If we were to have examples of his work in this article, this photo would be an odd choice, since he is a cartoonist and not a photographer.  Also, there is already one of his cartoons in the article.  But I'm not too concerned over whether this photo is the best example of his work, I just want to make sure it isn't being posted in the infobox and being labelled as actually being him. --Xyzzyplugh (talk) 21:02, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

text: Xyzzplugh, You are such a buzzkill. I'm going to go ahead and reiterate the question rhetorically-have you ever seen any of his work? The photo should be put back the way it was, and it does make unique sense in this circumstance.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.176.148.72 (talk) 22:50, 26 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Gary Larson Photo 

message: I distinctly recall that after retiring, Larson continued to write the occasional comic. A couple times a year, the New York Times Science section would publish a new cartoon of his. Also, every year one new cartoon would be the subject of a multiple choice question in the New York Biology Regents (a standardized test generally taken by 9th graders in New York State). One comic featured a square paramecium being wheeled away into an ambulance while regular shoe-shaped paramecia looked on in horror. I could not find references to these cartoons online, can anyone verify a source and put something in this article? Yserbius (talk) 19:59, 20 August 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Post Far-Side comics 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Photos of Larson himself seem to be short supply on the internet, although there is one here. So a free-use image may be difficult to find. There is a copy of a 1986 interview with Lynn Sherr on ABC's 20/20 on YouTube, but I guess this may be a copyright violation. Martinevans123 (talk) 09:25, 4 June 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Image of Larson 

message: I tagged the sentence  with a  back in 2017: . As I said in my , that source (and many others others I've seen repeating this claim) doesn't provide any information as to who named it after him and when, or anything about the genus other than its name and namesake, and I also cannot find  such genus name in the literature about beetle taxonomy. I'm certainly skeptical that we should use "Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature" as a reliable source for this. The best sources I  been able to find in terms of providing specifics are:
So at the very least this was only ever going to be a species of beetle, not a genus. And perhaps people took his intention to formally name a beetle species after him as a fact and just relayed that as such. He certainly intended to name a species after him, but I've been unable to find out if he actually succeeded in doing so. Not sure if we want to just strike the sentence altogether or mention his intention in doing so. Hopefully knowing it was a species and that it was Paul Spangler who wanted to do so helps people find more sources if they do exist. Umimmak (talk) 06:09, 19 April 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: I've looked. It's a dead end, and it should probably be stricken. The story was written in 1987. The entomologist, Paul Spangler, had a long career until his death in 2011,https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_304098http://www.reserfuneralhome.com/obituary/1178930 (Google scholar seems to have the year wrong as 2010)https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=eFHmgBAAAAAJ and you would think he would've made something official long before his death. The original author of the news story, Celia Hooper, last published in 2014.https://sites.google.com/site/celiaahooper/resumehttps://sites.google.com/site/celiaahooper/publishedarticles I sent an email to the Smithsonian to see if they have any links or published info (to avoid WP:OR). MartinezMD (talk) 14:40, 19 April 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Well I've taken the liberty of removing it, curious if you got any response from the Smithsonian though, . Umimmak (talk) 02:06, 13 June 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: No response from them. :( MartinezMD (talk) 12:19, 13 June 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: If nothing else, Garylarsonus, with an -us, would be against the naming conventions of zoology, even if there were already another animal species with the proper -i form of the name. It could be a genus name, but the way it's written out as "beetle garylarsonus" makes me think that somebody made a mistake.... for example, it could have been a placeholder name that was never intended to make it into the published story. It's worth noting also that twenty-one years between the original story and its update is quite a long time.  —Soap— 17:45, 28 October 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  ''Garylarsonus'' beetle 

message: Gary Larson was also the commencement speaker at WSU 1986- College of Science and Arts Charwkh (talk) 01:58, 24 April 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: You'll need a reliable source to include it in the article and what made it notable. MartinezMD (talk) 13:14, 24 April 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Commencement addresses 

message: There are a number of videos on Youtube of the music of the Canadian folk duo Ian and Sylvia, the credits of which say they are the work of Gary Larson. IF this is the same person, they are certainly worthy of inclusion. Toyokuni3 (talk) 17:39, 1 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ian and Sylvia videos