Apr 6th 2010 06:56 am Considered response

1986-03-31-marilyn-monroe.giftodays-aj.jpg

We rarely talk about Ludwig the cat here on the Web site; we’re going to do that this week. As you’ll discover, I’m having some fun with Ol’ Loodie in the newspaper. I think Ludwig has served his purpose very well being depicted, generally, as a realistic house cat. A lot of my “cat humor” actually is based on the humans’ reaction to having around a furry creature who mostly eats and sleeps, albeit in entertaining fashion. However, if you read the strip regularly, you know I “bust loose” with Ludwig now and then, and I always enjoy it immensely.

The A&J strip above, from 1986, is one of my early favorites.

Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J

40 Responses to “Considered response”

  1. Neal in Bahstawn on 06 Apr 2010 at 7:22 am #

    I know Ludwig speaks once a year… but is it tied to any specific event?

    Ludwig often speaks on Christmas Eve, in accordance with northern European folklore, and on April Fools Day, when I can get away with it. Other odd times, such as this week, he’s allowed to speak his mind. — JJ

  2. Tom in Elizabethtown on 06 Apr 2010 at 7:54 am #

    (In reference to the “Considered Response” strip from 1986)

    “Talk first – Think later.” That’s my motto, too.

  3. Sarah in Austin on 06 Apr 2010 at 8:00 am #

    Have to say I loved the April Fools Day strip, where he didn’t talk, but was still more human than cat. And today’s was excellent!

  4. Mindy on 06 Apr 2010 at 8:26 am #

    For Heaven’s sake do NOT let Ludwig talk on a regular basis! But I have to admit in the “today” strip I truly loved the panel showing him climbing up on the sofa. For some reason that got a huge laugh, bigger, even, than the entire strip itself!

  5. John in Podunk on 06 Apr 2010 at 8:27 am #

    I think it’s about time Ludwig had his own Facebook page, don’t you? My cat (Blackcat Kelly) put his own up and now he has more friends than I.

  6. Bill in Paducah on 06 Apr 2010 at 8:33 am #

    John in Podunk;

    Someone beat you to it:

    http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=7821846458&ref=ts

    JJ:

    Loved both strips today. Are we going to get to vote on whether Ludwig becomes more anthropomorphic?

  7. Dave in MA on 06 Apr 2010 at 8:45 am #

    I agree that the way the cat climbed onto the couch was very funny visually. Of course, the kittens that we fostered from 2 weeks old onward would eventually learn to leap in the general direction of the couch with their claws out, then swing back and forth (it’s a couch on legs so they could swing underneath it) until they felt brave enough to try to climb, eventually learning to get all the way up.

    Then watching them learn to get down was funny. Initially it looked like a dog perched on the edge of a swimming pool making his leap into the water. Then eventually it got much more fluid and smooth until it’s now no big deal (they’re 10 months old now and no longer “little” kittens).

    When Ludwig talks occasionally, it’s funny. If he starts to talk more often, it may no longer be very funny. :-)

    Dave

  8. Dave in MA on 06 Apr 2010 at 8:45 am #

    P.S. I love how when Ludwig is talking, he often will walk upright on his hind legs too. :-)

  9. Canuck Ron on 06 Apr 2010 at 9:16 am #

    To the topic at hand, nice save, Arlo, on the Monroe thing.
    As far as my baby boomer standards, Monroe is still hot, she was my first screen crush and she still lingers in my mind as a knockout curvy beauty.

    Not to diminish your comment, Ron, but I think you’re hardly alone. — JJ

  10. Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 06 Apr 2010 at 9:25 am #

    When I am taking a shower and forget to leave the door ajar, my cat will yalp HELLOOOO several times before I can let him in. He then goes into the bathtub to catch the water dripping from the faucet.

    He would like to be more anthropomorphic, but he has a pea-brain and does not know how to pronounce it or know what it means. Of course I suppose he could try googling it.

  11. Steve Conway on 06 Apr 2010 at 9:28 am #

    Being a cat fancier, I prefer Loodie when he is just being a cat. He’s pretty entertaining that way.

    Steve C.

  12. Neko in San Jose on 06 Apr 2010 at 10:35 am #

    Arlo is thinking, “Meow.”

  13. Michael from Dublin, CA on 06 Apr 2010 at 10:51 am #

    i thought i was the only one who thought Ludwig’s climbing on the couch while beginning the conversation was the funniest part of the strip! I got a kick out of that, and i can’t even say why, except that that’s a very human thing to do.

  14. John in Podunk on 06 Apr 2010 at 11:36 am #

    That’s a neat Facebook Group. I have my private collection of Ludwig strips that I review from time to time. I’ve always been afraid to give out the link though. I don’t want to “republish” any copyrighted material. I do put up links frequently though.

    Blackcat’s Facebook page is here http://bit.ly/cPVFrd

  15. John in LA late of PNS on 06 Apr 2010 at 11:46 am #

    RE: today’s strip. I bet Krazy and Ignatz would approve. BTW, high praise.

  16. debbie on 06 Apr 2010 at 12:06 pm #

    Ludwig needs a girlfriend, I think!

  17. CIDU Bill on 06 Apr 2010 at 12:45 pm #

    If Ludwig were really intelligent, he’d be speaking to Jimmy, not Arlo.

  18. Jeff in Ann Arbor on 06 Apr 2010 at 12:55 pm #

    As I mentioned the other day, I grew up in a German-American family in Cincinnati, and I thought it was rather conservative, even prudish. My grandfather even objected to the word “pregnant,” or even acknowledging that a woman was pregnant. His sons, my father and uncle, were somewhat more modern, but still, as a pre-adolescent in the late 50′s, I was astounded and titillated to discover on the back of the office door of the family contracting business a large nude pin-up of MM. It was the classic pinup of her on her back on a red background, with arm thrown back and her head resting on it (see link below).

    http://foto.mv4u.net/details.php?image_id=134 (warning: classic and beautiful (IMO) but not safe for work)

    I don’t know if it was my father’s or my uncle’s; it was certainly not my grandfather’s. It seemed entirely out of character for any of them, but in retrospect, I realize that I had a protected view of adults.

    I do wonder if they might have put it up knowing that I and my sisters and cousins might well find it despite the door always being opened back against the wall, for a little sex ed. I mean, we did hang out at the shop a lot – it was only two blocks from school. At any rate, I know that I sneaked a peek every time I had a chance, and they probably knew it. :-)

  19. emeritus minnesota biologist on 06 Apr 2010 at 1:53 pm #

    John . . . PNS, c. ex-prof, et al.:
    Went to Strong’s Concordance and found the quote. Here is Psalm 90, Verse 10: “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” Unlike the clearly (IMO) mythological ages of Abraham, Sarah, Methuselah, and such, this looks like an author’s simple remark on the ages men (males are the usual focus of biblical authors) would likely reach, were they not cut off by infant mortality, warfare, or obvious disease. Nobody is doing statistics here. “Average age at death”, not otherwise qualified, is bound to be low if infant mortality is high. The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes died in the 1600s at age 91 (came upon that online in Monday’s “Writers Almanac”), but I suspect the average age at death in England then was under 40.
    I reached fourscore last fall; wife will get there this summer if all goes well. The best way to deal with “geezer” is to call yourself one. I don’t owe my fourscore to “reason of [innate] strength”, although genes help, but to luck, sanitation, not smoking, exercise, restraining my appetite, and following the lowfat diet my primary MD put me on in summer ’07. You are right about “much lower incidents of infant death, childhood illness, and women dying in child birth”. But there have also been significant gains in longevity. At least two members of our church have passed 100, and my original division chairman at the university died recently a few months short of 100; severe macular degeneration, but all his marbles. Be nice to reach fourscore and ten or more, if I still had all my marbles.

  20. curmudgeonly ex-professor on 06 Apr 2010 at 2:12 pm #

    Preference: keep Lootvik feline….

    Recent semi-gripe: many newscasts last mid-week emphasized how many citizens (& aliens) hadn’t yet mailed in the census forms. Did anyone else see the illogical thought involved therein? The census forms wanted information AS OF AP 1 – not as of, say, March 15. Thus, given the uncertainty of this life itself (people are mortal, after all) as well as the fact that people move (usually planned, but not always), how could a person file a form on, say, March 20 and claim the data were true for April 1? As for myself, I mailed it on Ap 1.

  21. Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 06 Apr 2010 at 2:16 pm #

    emeritus minnesota biologist:

    I use the term losing my marbles all the time. Here is a link to ONE explanation of where the term came from:

    http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/lose-your-marbles.html

  22. Bob, near Mark on 06 Apr 2010 at 2:34 pm #

    debbie,
    If Ludwig needs a girlfriend, perhaps Gene should get a cat for MaryLou.

  23. Bob, near Mark on 06 Apr 2010 at 2:37 pm #

    Steve from Royal Oak, MI,
    Re loosing your marbles

    I always enjoyed Tootles (played by Arthur Malet, in 1991′s “Hook”) finding his.

  24. HC on 06 Apr 2010 at 2:55 pm #

    Here’s another vote for the ‘climbing on the couch’ panel – Yea Loodie

  25. John in LA late of PNS on 06 Apr 2010 at 2:56 pm #

    emeritus minnesota biologist:
    Thank you much. Seems the avg. age of death and life expectancy aren’t always the same. I could have never imagined a society where people were dropping off at such an age. Way earlier would, as you say lower the average. I once saw, and wish I could find again, about how life expectancy and life span and longevity are often confused.
    Though I am a minor geezer, @ three score + 2 I think I will follow your advice and call myself exactly as I am. Of course that might be young to some but to many of the people where I work I am an extreme geezer–though we do have one employee that is three score + 18.
    Anyways! Thanks so much for your input, observations and sage advice. I will put some of it to work right away. And since my great, great, grandfather suddenly dropped dead at only 103 in 1858 I have high hopes of four score +10. Perhaps even five score.

  26. Mark in Boston on 06 Apr 2010 at 3:03 pm #

    Here’s a real-life Ludwig:

    http://cuteoverload.com/2010/04/06/evolved-kitteh-laughs-at-your-opposable-thumbs/

  27. Mary in Ohio on 06 Apr 2010 at 3:45 pm #

    Well, I haven’t had an original thought all day, so I’ll chime in on Arlo’s great save in the retro strip, and the drawing of Loodie climbing up. One of my cats (the black one) does climb on things, and go up and down steps, like this. My Mom loved black cats and the gait on the stairs is strangely reminiscent of the way she navigated.

  28. sandcastler on 06 Apr 2010 at 4:51 pm #

    Couch climbing, caught me eye and put a chuckle in me tummy. Thanks JJ

  29. James Pollock on 06 Apr 2010 at 5:30 pm #

    As to three-score-years-and-ten… I, personally, am immortal, at least so far.

  30. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 06 Apr 2010 at 5:44 pm #

    Christina Hendricks is the closest to Monroe these days, and, even though Hendricks is truly a knockout (as they used to say), she still doesn’t approach that mystical something Monroe had.

  31. Ghost Rider 6 on 06 Apr 2010 at 7:43 pm #

    Why I’m afraid a girlfriend wouldn’t do Ludwig much good…

    http://comics.com/arlo&janis/?DateAfter=2005-05-23&DateBefore=2005-05-23&Order=d.DateStrip+ASC&PerPage=1&Search=&x=49&y=16

  32. buzz on 06 Apr 2010 at 8:13 pm #

    I can’t be the only one to notice Arlo wore a short sleeve shirt in the first panel of the Sunday April 4 strip and a long sleeve one for the rest!

  33. Ron in NW IL on 06 Apr 2010 at 8:52 pm #

    curmudgeonly ex-professor, I join your semi-gripe. when I began to fill out the form on April 1, my wife said “the newscaster said that you have missed the deadline”. I then underlined ‘as of April first’.

    I keep dictionary.com at the ready for JJ’s comments, now I need it to understand Ludwig!

  34. K in ND on 06 Apr 2010 at 8:59 pm #

    Did the paw print just start coming up in JJ’s comments or have I been oblivious this whole time?

    K

  35. TruckerRon on 06 Apr 2010 at 10:31 pm #

    K in ND – That’s a good question. It’s only really visible in his longer comments, so I didn’t see it at first. Subtlety is nice, but at my age it’s easy to miss lightly shaded icons against a light background.

  36. debbie on 06 Apr 2010 at 11:06 pm #

    I had quite forgotten Ludwig’s problem. Well, he can use a friend. And no, I had not noticed that Arlo wore a short-sleeve and then switched to a long-sleeved shirt, He caught you, Jimmy!

  37. Jim in SE Mississippi on 06 Apr 2010 at 11:44 pm #

    And exactly how much less logical is a sleeve-length-changing shirt than a talking purple house cat? :)

    Seriously, unless JJ has started out-sourcing the drawing of some of the panels of the strip, it’s hard for me to believe he didn’t do that intentionally. I just haven’t yet decided what the intention was.

  38. DaveDW on 07 Apr 2010 at 12:00 am #

    Actually, Ludwig is a dog PLAYING a cat for the strip. He broke the fourth wall and introduced himself to us awhile back, right JJ? :o ))

  39. Judy in Conroe on 07 Apr 2010 at 6:16 am #

    Loodie picked the right person to start talking with. Arlo has always been something of a dreamer. Now if he’d picked practical JANIS to address, she’d probably freak out or accuse Arlo of pulling a stunt. That’s what I want to see – Janis doing some gardening and Ludwig strolling by and offering a bit of advice and Janis’ reaction.

  40. Mary in Ohio on 07 Apr 2010 at 2:53 pm #

    He got quote a reaction out of her that one time he offered her a lizard.