When I started to put together today’s strip, it was much more complicated than it needed to be. Originally Cami was going to be lecturing Jared AND Jimmy. Tom was supposed to walk through the background of the last panel and deliver the punchline. There was much more anti-Sharon Stone commentary from Cami. There wasn’t one punchline, there was three. Each one threw a spin on the one before. It was a convoluted mess.

Thankfully, I was able to bounce a few ideas off Cami and we were able to parse things down to it’s core – which is essentially the insecurity of women.

I don’t pretend to have some profound understanding of the opposite sex. So it’s very handy to have a woman with whom you share your life to tell you, "That joke is out of bounds" or "I think you’re bordering on misogyny with that one." Saves me the trouble of sitting through a lot of boring litigation.

Basic Instinct 2 comes out today and just the thought of it acerbates me to no end. In my mind, it is nothing more than a soapbox for Sharon Stone to say "I’m in my 40’s and I’m sexy! I can do a nude scene and you can’t stop me!"

Not that a woman in her 40’s doesn’t have a right to be sexy. Sex it up! Be as sexy as you please! I insist!

No, what draws my ire is that this becomes a topic of media facination like it’s going completely against the laws of nature. "Maddona turns 40!" "Teri Hatcher is 40 and fabulous!"

And then along comes Sharon Stone. An actress who, despite protest, really never had very much going for her except her looks. I’m speaking in regard to her professional accomplishments. Since the original Basic Instinct, she’s been cast as  the sex object. A shame, since I’ve read she’s a lot smarter than she lets on.

But agreeing to Basic Instinct 2 nearly 14 years after the original and proceed to tell anyone who will listen, "Yes, I will be nude in the movie and isn’t that AMAZING?!" comes off as the most desperate, self-promotional ego-trip I can imagine. It’s more than a little sad.

I’ve read commentary about Stone that she’s one of the last great movie stars we have. She’s overtly aware that it is her job to be a glamorous, iconic personality and to live larger than life. Maybe that’s true. But, not to be mean, her star is fading. If forced to watch Basic Instinct 2, I don’t think I could be objective enough to sit there and think  "This is supposed to be sexy." Instead, I’m sure all I could think of would be "This is a political statement." The last desperate gasp from an actress facing the impending embargo against employing "women of a certain age" in Hollywood who get by mostly on looks. A big middle finger to the establishment that dictates not everyone can have a career like Judi Dench.