Tired (Daisy's Version)

Please, when something is nice, don't make it your first instinct to totally ruin it.

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Witches, evil queen, good wives & allies,

Are we on the same team yet? 🏳️

Good. Because today, we’re stepping into a 1940's Looney Tune. A world where ducks manage kitchens, cartoon cement is served for dinner, and anger always comes with a laugh track — as long as the right character is angry.

Let’s dive in! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

To set the scene, here’s a song that lives rent-free in my brain, written by a man who, refreshingly, doesn’t fall into the trope we’re exploring today:

✨ Have I set the vibes? Are they immaculate? ✨

🎵 I am tired of everyone’s voice being equally valid in a conversation. Sometimes, people know more than you about a topic, and you should just listen. 🎶

Like feelings. Or like Daisy’s perspective on wxmanhood in a 1940s Looney Tune that put a duck in charge of the kitchen!

Picture this: A duck decides to make pancakes. He spills the flour, cracks the eggs, and, in the height of chaos, mistakes rubber cement for milk. He whisks it all together like nothing’s wrong. The pancakes are ruined, but that doesn’t matter!

It’s 1941. Everyone knows Daisy is supposed to eat that cement with a smile on her face. She doesn’t need any reminders from Mickey and the gang...

🎵 I am tired of people with no ideas shouting “no” at people with solutions.🎶

Four years pass — 1945 is coming to a close — and this reckless duck destroys Daisy’s home because… wait for it... he had trouble opening a window?

Want to know the worst part? He went there to ask her on a date!

Instead, he snaps. Plates smash. Furniture flies. By the time he’s done, her home is in ruins. But Daisy stays calm. She doesn’t yell. She just tells him to come back when he’s learned to manage his temper.

Unsure where to begin without Daisy’s guidance, he turns to the Looney Tune leadership council. Their solution? Strap him into a machine that beats him up. Even after the wires, shocks, and drills, he still can’t control his anger. So, they drug him. By the end, he’s sent back to Daisy’s doorstep — a certified good duck.

This time, he makes fun of her hat.

Poor Daisy, amiright? All the anger she’s been quietly swallowing finally comes roaring out. She was so unbelievably patient with this silly little duck that it sparked some questions.

1️⃣ First of all: Can we talk about how cute Daisy is? ‘Hiya toots’, indeed. Let’s be real though, Daisy didn’t knock the living daylight out of that duck because he made fun of her hat.

Imagine what could happen if, instead of pretending everything was fine, we talked about it… the first time it bothers us… with ourselves? And then with our partners? Or with each other?

What if we really got to the root of it instead of letting the same fight happen over and over … and over? 

2️⃣ Next question: What is this lesson in anger management from Big Hollywood? Is the solution to anger, in this 1945 Looney Tune, really accepting abuse then taking drugs to maintain obedience?

3️⃣ Most importantly: Why must Daisy quietly watch this angry duck destroy everything he touches? Why must she endure so much that the ground trembles when she finally sets her anger free?

🎵 I am tired of my own ways, big and small, that I feed into that system. 🎶

After all of those red flags, Daisy still decides to let this sick duck take her on a date. Somehow, they’re also married with three children now, too. Maybe they’ve always been, I don’t know — admittedly, I’m not super up to date on the story arc across 1940s Looney Tunes.

Regardless, Daisy needs a break!! And of course, she never gets one. 

You are going to get a kick out of what this duck does next — 

He steals money from their children to pay for the date. The same date that he asked Daisy on — after destroying her (or maybe their) home!

Obviously, Daisy loses her mind — right?

❌ Wrong! She keeps her mouth shut and she smiles because this is a 1945 Looney Tune. Also, because she’s (reasonably) exhausted from the energy it takes to live with (or near) that fat duck.

Just cut her some quack, y’all!

🎵Mostly, I am just tired. 🎶

👩‍🏫So, let’s move on to the lead actor of today’s lesson — Donnie Wahlberg. 

The setting — South Boston, Massachusetts — a place lovingly known as “God’s Country” by the locals.

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Danny Quinn (Donnie Wahlberg) comes back to his old stomping grounds after running away for the last three years to turn over a new leaf from his old roughhouse ways. The last time he was in town he was in a drunken stupor…

Since the film has no final note to end on, it uses the St. Paddy’s Day parade to have its final shot, which is tantamount to —

Waving the flag to indicate patriotism or, in this case, Irish pride. 🍀 

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That was the beginning and end of this film review written by some guy in 2019. To be clear, I am not recommending you watch the 1998 film Southie. I lived it, and it was, like, only a little fun!

But, so, yeah, umm, anyways — Does Danny Quinn (Donnie Wahlberg), maybe like, remind you of anyone?

I don’t know, maybe, like... that duck we were talking about earlier? 

What was his name again?

🎵 I am tired of people rejecting facts in favor of their preferred dogma. 🎶

📌 All this to say — 

If it ever starts to feel a little like 1998 Southie, remember: this is not a 1945 Looney Tune anymore and it’s also not a 1945 Looney Tune yet.

At the start of our careers, a wise man named Fran once taught me:

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Things can be two things.

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So, crank that volume up (with precision).

Also, check out Philip Labes’ other work on Spotify —

Happy Holidays & go hug your mom right now!

<3 Nic

recovering workaholic | former good wife | angsty, childless, cat lady