Dec 29th 2009 08:18 am Remember this one, Bill?
I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately. I’m a mischievous little monkey! When this cartoon first ran ten years ago, it caused quite a dust-up over at the Web site “Comics I Don’t Understand.” As I hope you know, “Comics I Don’t Understand,” or “CIDU” to the intitiated, is a highly entertaining comics-related Web site that obviously has been around for a while. Today, site author Bill Bickel is a friend and frequent visitor to arloandjanis.com. Also, needless to say, “Arlo and Janis” appears regularly at CIDU.
However, when this strip first ran in 1999, Bill was agitated, literally siding with the poor card being shoved off the mantel. Bill and commenters at CIDU achieved a lot of mileage from discussion related to this comic strip, and before it was over Bill and I exchanged a couple of terse emails on the subject, something I’m rarely provoked to do.
That all was smoothed over and is now ancient history, and I’m not going to relaunch the original discussion here. I’ll leave that to you. I will just say that this strip resulted from picking up a raw topic, “There’s always one greeting card that persists in falling off the mantel,” and applying the comedy-writer’s craft. In his defense, Bill said he didn’t understand it.
Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J
44 Responses to “Remember this one, Bill?”
Kirk on 29 Dec 2009 at 8:50 am #
There’s always someone (or some thing in this case) who is holier than thou.
Brenty on 29 Dec 2009 at 9:11 am #
You could always duct tape that sucker onto the mantle and not worry about it.
John in Richmond Texas on 29 Dec 2009 at 9:34 am #
I’ve looked at that site occasionally and frankly, felt sorry for someone not understanding some pretty obvious strips; or is he sometimes looking for some deeper meaning?
Turner Classic Movies, each year end, between movies, runs a little montage of famous movie people who died that year. How unmanly is it if my eyes get misty when I see that?
and Arnold Stang, voice of Top Cat, made it to 91.
Dave in MA on 29 Dec 2009 at 10:06 am #
By some accounts, Arnold Stang wasn’t 91. His date of birth was Sept 28, 1925 in some listings. He died December 20th, 2009. That makes him 84 at the time of his death 9 days ago. Other listings show a date of birth of Sept 28, 1918, which would indeed make him 91. However, the obits all list him as age 91. He was also the voice of the honey bee in the Honey Nut Cheerios commercials. To quote one obituary, “At 5ft 3in and 100 pounds, he once described himself as looking ‘like a frightened chipmunk who’s been out in the rain too long’.”
CNN had a list of names that were leaving us this year, but that’s misleading. They were mostly brand names that had ceased to exist in our recession…. I got pulled into that one.
A Christmas Card should be a Christmas Card, not a Seasons Greeting Card. And A Hanukkah Card should be a Hanukkah Card. The Pagans can have winter solstice cards. And any other faith that wants to have cards for the celebration of some holy day in that faith should have one that is for that holy day and not a generic seasons greetings. And for the atheists among us there could be no religious holiday cards or maybe anti-religion cards depending on whether they just don’t believe or if they are also religious about wanting the rest of us to not believe.
Controversy? Nah. Removal of Political Correctness from the situation isn’t controversial. It’s just plain honest.
Bob, near Mark on 29 Dec 2009 at 10:22 am #
John in Richmond Texas,
My first memories of Arnold Stang are from the 1949-56 TV series, “The Goldbergs,” starring Gertrude Berg. Stang played teenager Seymour Fingerhood. I enjoyed his sidekick role on Milton Berle’s early ’50s show. I think his voice role as Top Cat was the first time I recognized someone’s voice as a cartoon character.
The corniest thing remember seeing Stang in was in his role as Pretzie in the 1970 Arnold Schwarzenegger film, “Hercules In New York.” The funniest part of that film is Arnold’s overdubbed voice. You can watch the complete film on IMDb or on Hulu.
sandcastler on 29 Dec 2009 at 11:07 am #
The Secret Life of Greeting Cards, this has the potential for a great animated holiday movie.
Bill in Paducah on 29 Dec 2009 at 11:17 am #
Mischievous indeed - at least this should get us off the definition of a decade! That was wearing me out. I’m starting to wonder if Jimmy has one of those blogger contracts (kind of like sports coaches) that pays a year end bonus if he hits a certain comment level!!
Trapper Jean - I was the “Anonymous” 2012 cartoon poster yesterday - not sure why it came thru as anonymous or double posted, the software did act funny when I clicked submit and I never saw it go up.
As for New Years Eve, I’ll be attending “Luna Ilena” a Paducah Wastelanders art exhibition/reception. As I understand it, New Years Eve is not only a full moon, but also a “Blue Moon”.
Bill
Bill in Paducah on 29 Dec 2009 at 11:21 am #
By the way, Jim in SE Miss. - You mentioned black eyed peas yesterday. My cousin went home (from Baltimore to Nicholsaville, KY) over Christmas. Flying back to Baltimore, her home canned black eyed peas were confiscated by TSA - apparently good luck on New Years Day is a terrorist threat!!
Bill
Erin on 29 Dec 2009 at 11:23 am #
I just looked at that website, and I couldn’t understand what this guy can’t understand about all the A&J comics. I understand them quite well. He seems to take them all way too literally? Not someone who should be reading the funny pages at all, in my humble opinion. Keep up the great work, JJ!
TruckerRon on 29 Dec 2009 at 11:34 am #
As I look over this past year, I’m just glad my daughter’s karate school was so near the fire station and that the EMTs got to me in time with a defibrillator.
Mindy on 29 Dec 2009 at 11:44 am #
Dave in MA, in college I had a professor who said, in all sincerity, “I’d be an Atheist but there aren’t as many holidays.” I think that was some underlying meaning there. At least I hope there was. And moving on into the next decade of Global Warming! LOL!
Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 29 Dec 2009 at 11:45 am #
There are a lot of A&J cartoons that I do not “get” and actually this blog has been most helpful in helping me to understand a few of them. However, the card getting kicked off the shelf was one that I understood and laughed at immediately. Now Jimmy might have had another intent as to the humor, but that is what makes ART so wonderful.
Trucker Ron: You have much to be thankful for. I know that there have been moments in my life that I later realize were heaven sent. Once I went to a party and wanted to leave and a woman cornered me and told me that I was going to meet the woman of my dreams. Sure enough, my future wife strolled in a few minutes later.
A while back I lost my keys. Could not find them anywhere and started to panic. I went back to the top of the microwave (my usual place) and there they were. Instead of being upset, I realized that my Guardian Angel must have been protecting me from something. I know that some might think that I was being silly (believing in Angels), but hey, I wasn’t upset anymore.
James Riendeau on 29 Dec 2009 at 12:00 pm #
I love CIDU. I can always count on an explanation when a strip flies over my head or speaks to an older or younger audience. I always try to leave as many explanations for other comics, which haven’t already been explained, as I can when I do visit. You can comb the comments sections over at comics.com to find comics people have trouble with. A&J is typical in that regard, but I consider that a good thing. Keeps us on our toes and our minds sharp.
Paul on 29 Dec 2009 at 12:10 pm #
I don’t know, maybe Bill doesn’t have a sense of humor?
Boise Ed on 29 Dec 2009 at 12:27 pm #
Mindy: Your professor reminds me of the old joke about Sammy Davis Jr. crossing the street. Seeing a truck bearing down upon him, he made the Catholic “sign of the cross.” Later, someone asked why he had done that, since he had converted to Judaism. He replied that it can’t hurt to cover all the bases.
JJ and James: Thanks for the pointer to CIDU; I hadn’t heard of it before this.
CIDU Bill on 29 Dec 2009 at 1:18 pm #
And the epilogue: Bob Roberts finally shut us both up by dedicating this comic “to B.B. and J.J.”
Just for the record, the whole “Happy Holidays” business still manages to get discussed in some shape or form every year on the CIDU site. I think it’s become an annual tradition, along with our annual appreciation of Jimmy’s “Arlo’s Dad in WW2″ sequence.
Another Bill on 29 Dec 2009 at 1:22 pm #
My only problem with CIDU is that they use Arlo as a metaphor for randiness. There is much more to Arlo than they give him credit for at that site–he is much deeper than they are.
CIDU Bill on 29 Dec 2009 at 1:46 pm #
Boise Ed, I’m Jewish, but I used to work with a very religious Catholic woman. During the winters, I often had to drive home on a long, steep, badly-plowed road, and she always prayed for my safety before I left. Like Sammy, I was willing to take all the help I could get, even if it wasn’t help I necessarily believed in.
Jim in southwest Illannoy on 29 Dec 2009 at 2:16 pm #
I’m a lot more open on people saying “happy holidays” now than I used to be, especially when they start in November so far away from Christmas. How they greet me is up to them. I willl most likely respond with whichever holiday is next in line, whether Hannakah, Christmas, or New Years. Now I’m not Jewish, but why should that keep me from wishing one well during Hannakah?
I work on a military base and while the base public affairs office was very correct in their attribution for the base menorah, they called the tree a “holiday tree”. My question is which one? After all, it could be for the winter solstice or of Christmas. Instead, they chose for the generic holiday. Perhaps they fail to see the silliness of what they do.
What I don’t like is when businesses and other organizations tell their employees that they have to use the generic holiday greeting. If they told me that, I’d go out of my way even more to do otherwise.
Bill, glad to hear from you hear. Blessings my friend.
Jim in southwest Illannoy on 29 Dec 2009 at 2:17 pm #
CIDU Bill, I nearly split a gut on that cartoon. Thanks for posting it. I needed a good belly laugh.
LVJeff on 29 Dec 2009 at 2:37 pm #
I’m surprised this comic landed on CIDU. I don’t find it particularly hard to get. I’d look up the history of what happened with it, but right now I’m too lazy
Dave in MA on 29 Dec 2009 at 2:41 pm #
CIDU Bill
HAHAHAHA! Thanks for that one. A little more extreme than JJ’s, but definitely funny!
I wouldn’t say that someone who doesn’t get A&J is necessarily someone who shouldn’t read the comics. I think one of the reasons I enjoy A&J so much is because it so closely mirrors my own experiences with my wife and kids and the world around me. If those experiences aren’t the same as someone else’s, some of the jokes may go over their head. No big deal.
Sometimes something that DOES resemble one of my experiences misses my attention and I have to think about it for a while. Then when it jumps out at me, I feel embarrassed that I didn’t get it the first time around.
Mindy, I’ve heard similar before, including one of a vietnam soldier with a regular cross, a crucifix, a star of david, a crescent, a rabbit’s foot, a pentagram, etc. on a chain around his neck. When questioned by a fellow soldier he just sort of stammered, “uh, i, i believe…”
John in LA late of PNS on 29 Dec 2009 at 3:24 pm #
“K in ND on 28 Dec 2009 at 7:41 pm #
Nicely done, John in LA! I’m very proud. I am trying to guess, though, what characters were missing from your post.”
From Yesterday:
K,, I DON’T know. I was trying all kinds of little gizmos and dingbats. The O w/ the / through it was the only one that came through. I kinda think I tried some Greek Letters perhaps and I know a couple of Slavic Cyrillic letters and such. Oh well I tried and thanks again to however gave me the G-2 on the Character Map directions. ?
John in LA late of PNS on 29 Dec 2009 at 3:31 pm #
“Bill in Paducah on 29 Dec 2009 at 11:21 am #
By the way, Jim in SE Miss. - You mentioned black eyed peas yesterday. My cousin went home (from Baltimore to Nicholsaville, KY) over Christmas. Flying back to Baltimore, her home canned black eyed peas were confiscated by TSA - apparently good luck on New Years Day is a terrorist threat!!”
My word! That silly TSA. Aren’t Black Eyed Peas only dangerous AFTER you have eaten them? Pretty inert in the can I would think.
John in LA late of PNS on 29 Dec 2009 at 3:43 pm #
“Jim in southwest Illanno”
“My question is which one? After all, it could be for the winter solstice or of Christmas. Instead, they chose for the generic holiday. Perhaps they fail to see the silliness of what they do.”
Why not all of them? I am pretty sure that a xmas tree is NOT in what many refer to as their holy book. Wasn’t the TREE, along w/ mistletoe, yule logs, holly, etc., stolen from the Pagan Germans?? A Yule/Solstice tree that predates x by beaucoup years–way before the C.E. started.
CIDU Bill on 29 Dec 2009 at 5:12 pm #
LV Jeff, not to stir up old arguments, but just for the record… the comic was on the CIDU site not because I considered it a “comic I don’t understand,” but because it seemed like a “Happy Holidays cards are an evil manifestation of the War on Christmas” argument, and I paired this with another comic (not an A&J) which bothered me even more: something to the effect of P.C. Police preventing one Christian from wishing another Christian a Merry Christmas.
That’s what the CIDU site has morphed into over the past 15 years: its subtitle is “Come for the comics, stay for the off-topic political discussions.”
God, has it really been 10 years since this kurfuffle? I feel as if I should be making some Arloesque observation about the passing of time.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 29 Dec 2009 at 6:12 pm #
CIDU Bill:
I think you just did.
Bill in Paducah on 29 Dec 2009 at 6:28 pm #
CIDU Bill:
Would that make it a decade?
Mark in Boston on 29 Dec 2009 at 6:29 pm #
Religions are like boyfriends / girlfriends. Some of them don’t mind if you get involved with other religions; others do.
Before Vatican II, Roman Catholics (of which I was one) were not allowed to take part in any non-Roman-Catholic religious ceremony. You could sit in on a Methodist Sunday morning service, but singing along during the hymn would send you to Hell. Now it’s no longer a mortal sin to take part in a Protestant service as long as you don’t miss Sunday Mass.
I don’t remember if you were allowed to keep a Hanukkah card if you got one in the mail, or if you had to bring it to the priest to be taken care of.
Bob, near Mark on 29 Dec 2009 at 7:11 pm #
Mark in Boston,
In 1962, I was Assistant Scoutmaster of a Boy Scout troop that was sponsored by a neighborhood Methodist Church. Most troop meeting nights, after the meeting, some of the adults would hang around and play ping pong. The Scoutmaster had a friend who was a Catholic priest at a church about a half mile away. The priest could not come to play ping pong with us because the ping pong table was in a Methodist church.
Jim in SE Mississippi on 29 Dec 2009 at 8:09 pm #
“Always trust your instruments.”
I’ve known some pilots who might still be alive today if they had remembered that.
CIDU Bill on 29 Dec 2009 at 9:15 pm #
Mark in Boston, we have a similar requirement: if I receive a Christmas card, I have to bring it down to the temple one week later to have it trimmed.
TruckerRon on 30 Dec 2009 at 2:23 am #
CIDU Bill –
That’s gonna hurt!
debbie on 30 Dec 2009 at 5:45 am #
I want that calender!
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 30 Dec 2009 at 6:11 am #
Calendar strip:
I have found that the calendars and desk items from http://www.despair.com evidently mirror many office environments, perhaps even better than the “Dilbert” items. “Despair” was definitely appropriate for my previous life as a teacher.
I never have anything from “Despair” or “Dilbert” in my office, though, because I am one of the few who can honestly say that I love my job and have a great boss.
debbie on 30 Dec 2009 at 6:33 am #
well, Rick, I don’t love my job, but most of the time, I like it….my dream job is sales, but I do have a pretty good boss (two actually) and they are good to me.
Dave in MA on 30 Dec 2009 at 8:52 am #
Debbie,
I’ve done sales. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
Checking out despair.com as I type….. looks like a fun site! (yikes!)
Jean from Dahlonega GA aka Trapper Jean on 30 Dec 2009 at 9:18 am #
Bill in Paducah-I was wondering who that was. Then again, maybe you couldn’t remember if you should sign on as Bill or JJ. Sometimes living a double life gets hard. As to your cousin’s jar of black eyed peas-the TSA agent wasn’t afraid of a terrorist attack, he/she just wanted some good eats on New Years.
No offense to CIDU, but what’s so hard to understand in an A&J strip? It’s just a look at life, usually through my window. I just don’t understand how JJ gets close enough to peek in without the dogs barking.
For the discussion on Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays and what belongs to whom, I present a video of a song some friends of mine wrote. It’s called “Santa Clause Was Pagan Too” by the group Emerald Rose, and can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8i0ypSqBxE.
Yesterday someone said “Why do avowed members of the Abrahamic faiths flock to pagan nonsense?” Well, it seems that the members of that Abrahamic faith must have thought quite a lot of that Pagan nonsense because they certainly appropriated enough of it to use in their own religion. As someone else said, Paganism is no more nonsense than Abrahamic nonsense.
Happy New Year, ya’ll!
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 30 Dec 2009 at 4:43 pm #
Jean: I would not have ended the essay by posing that question if I had not know its answer. There are at least two kinds of present-day pagans: those who acknowledge it (and often make a big deal of that) and those who have not examined the contradictions between their avowed monotheism and their own behavior (e.g., burying a statue of St. Somebody or Other in your yard when you are trying to sell your house; I’ve know of both observant “Christians” and “Jews” who have done that). Happy Saturnalia.
Mark in Boston on 30 Dec 2009 at 5:28 pm #
As an agnostic and then an atheist, I had a problem saying “God bless you” when someone sneezed. Early on in life I began saying “Gesundheit” which of course just means “health”.
Bill (from Bad Axe) on 31 Dec 2009 at 10:54 am #
That is a funny cartoon, well above average.
You don’t have to understand it to laugh at it.
This reminds me of a quote I overheard one of my students make to a classmate relating algebra to sex.
scott on 31 Dec 2009 at 1:48 pm #
Has anyone else noticed the spread of ” happy holiday ” to all other holidays?
I’ve heard the phrase used in conversation for Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, Easter and so on.
Sili on 01 Jan 2010 at 1:21 pm #
It’s interesting that some people read this as an anti-Happy Holidays strip, since I think it works better as a pro-HH one. At least to me the shoving card comes across as the bad guy.
HAPPY MONKEY! Dave in MA
And may your goats burn merrily in this coming season of perigee.
jp on 01 Jan 2010 at 5:28 pm #
For those who don’t understand why various “obvious” cartoons (A&J or otherwise) show up on Bill’s CIDU site, you need to learn the “secret code” that Bill employs on his site. (Even some of us regulars forget the secret code from time to time.) Indeed, only *some* of the comics there are “CIDU”s; these all carry a tag of ‘CIDU’ along with all of the other tags that Bill adds.
In addition to the ‘CIDU’s, there are ‘LOL’ comics, ‘Ewww’ comics, ‘Hey geezer, comics!’ comics, and, of course, the ‘Arlo’s (risque comics that slipped by the editor/censor). And, no, not all ‘Arlo’s are A&J strips, although JJ does seem to be a master of the double entendre and, hence, frequently shows up on Bill’s site.
And, as Bill says, the Arlo Award is named for Arlo Guthrie, and Bill’s sticking to this story.
-jp