A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

It seemed like a good idea.

By Jimmy Johnson

August 20, 2001


Men’s Bermuda shorts, worn as dressy attire, always was a strange concept. Except on Bermuda, of course, and they looked a little weird there, too, but everyone wore them. Which tells you something about fashion. Do you remember our recent problem with comments? Everything readers posted as a comment was being sent into a queue for moderation, by me. Of course, I was off doing other things, so it created problems for us all. I finally solved the issue by disabling my “spam” filter. That worked, but guess what? Spam! After a particularly virulent onslaught of the nasty stuff this past weekend, I have reinstalled an updated version of Akismet, my spam filter. So far, so good.


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17 responses to “It seemed like a good idea.”

  1. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Hope it works out. I had posted a couple of comments yesterday and neither appeared here. One was a retro strip on GoComics and the other was something from It’s A Southern Thing about things seen in WalMart.

  2. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    Yay! for JJ!

  3. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    I never really cared for SPAM. Or hot dogs. I do eat a brat cooked in beer and grilled, but if I am even slightly upset, it really backs up on me. That is why I cannot eat hot dogs.\

    My Father-in-Law was stationed on Bermuda in the 1950’s. My Mother-in-Law was visiting from Michigan and they dated and got married. He was from New Jersey, so it was quite an adjustment. They were married 56 yrs until his death 10 years ago. He was almost killed in an accident while he was servicing a plane. His last words before being knocked out was “Don’t tough those wires!” He had only been married a short time. However the next biggest highlight of his time in Bermuda was when when Queen Elizabeth walked directly passed him when she was inspecting the troops. She was only a few years older. My Mother-in-Law is 92 and still healthy. She could eat more and use a cane/walker more but amazingly in fine shape. In the last few years her emotions have been similar to my 5 year old grandson…Paitence.

  4. Ginger in Auburn Avatar
    Ginger in Auburn

    Glad you haven’t given up on fixing the problem! I have a love/hate relationship with computers now.

  5. Cozmik Cowboy Avatar
    Cozmik Cowboy

    Yeah, the shorts-as-suit thing always left me wondering.

    Short-sleeved suits, too.

    Though, I will say, when Stevie Rave On did the Rockpalast show, he had Johnie Copeland sit in – and Johnnie was wearing a short-sleeved, powder-blue leisure suit.

    But, of course, being Johnnie Copeland, he made it look cool…….

    1. Cozmik Cowboy Avatar
      Cozmik Cowboy

      OK, the end-italics thing isn’t working again. I’ll have to remember to eschew italics, I guess.

      1. Mark in TTown Avatar
        Mark in TTown

        Eschew italics? Pasta al dente?

  6. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    Anyone see the showings (last night and night before?) about the ozone hole discovery and the suggested international actions? One of its “stars” [ Dr. F. Sherwood Rowland, known as “Sherry” ] was one of my professors in grad school. I think he’s the only Nobel prize winner with whom I ever conversed. It was good to see the photos they used of him.

  7. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    I posted a couple that never appeared but I saw the Spam filter was working so figured I was Spammed too.

  8. Ray Avatar
    Ray

    Ah. I think I see what’s going on in the current strips. With the collapse of Gene and Mary Lou’s restaurant, it’s a reason to have them stay with Arlo and Janis, at first temporarily but probably turning into something permanent. (Perhaps down the road, that elderly couple in the neighborhood moves to a nursing home and Gene and Mary Lou buy their place.) This gets rid of all the awkwardness of cutting away from Arlo and Janis to check in on Gene and Mary Lou, or relying on phone calls and having Arlo and Janis go out there to visit all the time. Gene having his own life away from his parents’ home is realistic, but not conducive to comic strip storytelling.

    It’s a testament to Jimmy’s characters that we all hated Gene and his family being gone from the strip so much.

    1. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

      I thought that you might have been reading too much into the strip, but based on today’s, you may be right.

      I lost my job a few days before our son was born many years ago. My wife’s parents let us stay with them for about a month, but then told us that we needed to find our own place, even though we did not have a job. My MIL told me that she always regretted kicking us out, but I told her that I was thankful that she did because if we had stayed, we might have have been at odds. She is 92 now and has fallen a few times lately. She is staying with a younger man (He’s 90) but my BIL offered to have her stay with him. This is my wife’s nightmare, that she would want to live with us. It is mine as well as I do not have the skills or patience. I know there are some who feel that I might be a heel, but I had an Aunt that was a caregiver and I realize that she probably skipped purgatory and went straight to heaven for all of the grief that she went through. Neither of my parents needed a caregiver but both directed us that they would not want the kids to take care of them.

    2. Mark in TTown Avatar
      Mark in TTown

      The kids have a house, thanks to Gus. And Jimmy has shown Arlo and Janis going to their place frequently, but rarely has had Gene and his family come to the parent’s place to visit. I don’t think they’ll move off the coast, but that this is Jimmy’s way of moving them to a new setting for a short visit.

  9. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Related to Jimmy’s comment on the prior retro. https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2005/10/07

    1. Blinky the Wonder Wombat Avatar
      Blinky the Wonder Wombat

      Wow, I forgot about that one- a real emotional kick in the teeth.

  10. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    Gene, et. al., moving back home? Not good.