May 14th 2012 08:07 am Power of imagination

Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
Remember me telling you about the big change last year, the moving from New York City of United Media’s services to Universal Uclick in Kansas City? Well, this morning I’m in Kansas City to meet the new bosses. This is my first trip to KC. It isn’t New York, but it isn’t bad, either. I hope you’ll understand that I’m in a bit of a hurry this morning. I’ll let you know how it goes today!

Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J

39 Responses to “Power of imagination”

  1. Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 14 May 2012 at 8:12 am #

    They have some nice Barbeque in Kansas City. There is a couple decent hotels downtown too. Take a walk and explore.

  2. Mark from Maine on 14 May 2012 at 8:26 am #

    Enjoy, JJ! I hope your business meetings go well. Please let us know if you prefer Arthur Bryant’s or Gates BBQ. I like them both, but prefer the vinegar-y touch of Arthur Bryant’s . . .

  3. Blinky the Wonder Wombat on 14 May 2012 at 8:27 am #

    JJ-

    I think you will find that everything is up to date in Kansas City.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T0G2UNv0fM

  4. sandcastler on 14 May 2012 at 8:29 am #

    Having lived in Kc for a year I found Hayward’s the BBQ place with the best. If you are into jazz lots of great jazz clubs down around the Plaza.

  5. David from La Grange on 14 May 2012 at 8:36 am #

    @Steve

    Nice barbecue? Nice barbecue? That’s like saying the Mona Lisa is a nice painting or the Taj Mahal is a sort of ok building

  6. David from La Grange on 14 May 2012 at 8:40 am #

    Dang. I had more to that rant. But you get the gist. Jimmy, go get some KC bbq. I like Gates and Sons or Arthur Bryant, but you can just about close your eyes and point in any direction and hit good barbecue in KC.

  7. John Kelly on 14 May 2012 at 8:45 am #

    Odd how Kansas City makes everyone think of food. I thought were supposed to have steak when in KC. Did someone say they had barbeque?

  8. hc on 14 May 2012 at 8:48 am #

    geez – we do like to talk about food! I just finished breakfast – and now I’m hungry again

  9. Tom from the Front Range on 14 May 2012 at 9:01 am #

    Seems to me that you can get a Kansas City Strip (steak) anywhere but Kansas City and a New York Strip anywhere but New York.

  10. Tom from the Front Range on 14 May 2012 at 9:06 am #

    J. J., two things; 1. Avoid mentioning Stephan Pastis at all costs as he treats the management there ruthlessly. 2: Please let them know that their web site is LAME!

  11. emeritus Minnesota biologist on 14 May 2012 at 9:12 am #

    About both marble and concrete countertops: both, perhaps marble > concrete, would pit when exposed to acid, as in vinegar, oj, gfj, lj, soda, etc. The plastic that came with this house, built and first occupied in 2002 or earlier, stands up very well to spills and doesn’t shatter glass [as a "large Wagnerian mother" might?]. Has a few shallow cut marks. NFS.

  12. Robin in Fl on 14 May 2012 at 9:15 am #

    eMb

    We were the first to live in this condo. The granite has teeny tiny little pits that you could see the first day if you looked just right. I like laminate better–as you say, it does hold up well. i like Corian even better. One day, maybe, I’ll own a house again and put in what I like. But for now, I like having a landlord come fix everything and I like going on vacation without worrying about the grass etc.

  13. sideburns on 14 May 2012 at 9:49 am #

    To answer your question from yesterday, Mindy, no, I wasn’t joking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunion Grunion come up on the beach at night during high tide to lay their eggs in the sand. The eggs hatch, next month, the next time the tide’s high enough, and ride it back down to the ocean. You’re only allowed to catch them with your bare hands and can’t dig pits in the sand to trap them. The whole point is to allow some to be harvested without having to worry about over fishing them.

  14. Charlotte in NH on 14 May 2012 at 10:45 am #

    Thanks for the countertop comments. I’m not looking to change, but am always interested in other peoples’ kitchens. Our old house has stainless steel countertops, (only at either side of the st. steel sink). Probably installed about 1950; we moved in in 1957. They still look pretty good and seldom break dishes; have some “give” to them I guess.

  15. Galliglo in Ohio on 14 May 2012 at 11:21 am #

    Ref. today’s strip… notice how much smaller Gene looks in the second panel? At first, I thought that Gene is feeling like a little boy again. But then, Janis is smaller in the third panel also. Ah me… life is just a matter of perspective…

  16. Jim in Wisconsin on 14 May 2012 at 11:29 am #

    Changing the subject a bit, but I’m enjoyng the heck out of this art series. I have no idea how I missed it when it ran originally. Must have been on vacation in some backward town that didn’t run A&J in the newspaper.

  17. Lost in A**2 on 14 May 2012 at 12:25 pm #

    Why are there two Kansas Citys? Because Mis’ri loves company.

    eMb, that’s what you get for letting a woman in your life. :)

  18. David in Austin on 14 May 2012 at 12:41 pm #

    Jimmy,

    Have you ever seen any airport weirder than the Kansas City International? It was clearly designed during pre-9/11 days. The add-on security gates and enclosures make the whole airport completely bizarre. The original intent was pretty obviously to allow direct passenger access to the relevant gate, but not a very efficient way to secure. I would bet that the ratio of TSA agents to passengers is very high!

  19. CW in 617 on 14 May 2012 at 1:29 pm #

    GinO:

    Take a look at the retro posted May 3 (“Enjoy!”), the one with the brick wall. See how Jimmy “zooms in” between the second and third panels, probably making the brick wall even harder to draw. Note how the level of the top of the wall changes between panels two and three, but not between panels three and four.

    Hey, it’s what Brunelleschi might have done.

  20. Galliglo in Ohio on 14 May 2012 at 2:51 pm #

    CW in 617:

    In the May 3 retro – panel 2 is obviously more of a close up than panels 3 & 4. Note that Janis’s elbow is just about at the top of the wall in both panels 2 & 3.

    In today’s strip, the relationship of Gene, the table, and his chair is about the same in panels 1 & 2. But Arlo is a lot bigger than Gene in panel 2, and I don’t think that Arlo is closer. And, the far end of the table in panels 3 & 4 seem far away. Gene in panel 4 seems to be a lot smaller than Arlo, and Arlo is on the other side of the table.

    Don’t get me wrong – I am NOT picking nits! I just think it is fascinating how Jimmy can evoke different responses by only a few strokes of his pen (brush?)… and capture our imagination! Again – the actions of a true artist.

    By the way, I may have just now caught on to a possible joke: Today’s strip, capturing our imaginations, and the title of today’s blog – The Power of Imagination. Good one Jimmy!

  21. Bob on 14 May 2012 at 3:05 pm #

    Arlo should just turn the painting around. then Janis would ask him why it’s hanging that way

  22. Mindy on 14 May 2012 at 3:51 pm #

    Bob, if Arlo turns the painting around, will the front or rear of the naked woman be showing?

  23. Galliglo in Ohio on 14 May 2012 at 4:07 pm #

    The rear, of course!

  24. sandcastler on 14 May 2012 at 4:10 pm #

    Mindy, I think we would get a profile view based on the trees diameter.

  25. Craig T on 14 May 2012 at 4:15 pm #

    As someone from Georgia let me tell you that you will be disappointed by what they call “barbecue” in Kansas City if you compare it to good quality Georgia or Alabama barbecue, but you should still go because it’s a big part of the Kansas City culture.

    Arthur Bryant’s is a legendary place and has a unique atmosphere. I like the barbecue at Gates better, and the location I went to in Kansas had the appropriate look and feel (generic fast food furniture, counter service, menu board with changeable black letters on white).

    Neither is as good as the Smoky Pig in Columbus or Phenix City or any of the Dreamland locations I have visited. Or Country’s, for that matter. It’s good. It’s tasty. It just isn’t as good as what you were raised on.

    That smoke-added ketchup-and-molasses based stuff in the grocery store they call “barbecue sauce” is based on the Kansas City style.

  26. Cousin Keith Johnson on 14 May 2012 at 4:19 pm #

    There’s some crazy little wimmen there and you should gonna get you one.

    Actually, the corner of 12th & Vine is in a park now. Talk about your urban renewal!

  27. Mark in Boston on 14 May 2012 at 4:49 pm #

    Arlo could take a palette knife and carefully scrape off the tree.

  28. Jerry in Fl on 14 May 2012 at 5:27 pm #

    Heck, just take a razor blade and cut the tree down. Just be careful which direction it falls, don’t want to injure the lady. I’ve heard of tree huggers, but I think this takes it to a new level. Re counter tops, I’m surprised that nobody here has one. The redecorating shows make it look like the latest thing. When we built our home in 2003 we thought that granite would be a passing fad but we decided to switch to granite and we love the look. You do have to be careful sitting a glass down as it is very hard.

  29. Mary in Ohio on 14 May 2012 at 5:39 pm #

    Blinky – exactly my thought. I changed planes in KC – twice – and found the airport user friendly.

    Today’s retro strip is so true (several of my friends are/were art teachers). And today’s NEW strip is a cliffhanger.

    Mindy and Bob – if Arlo turns the painting around, won’t she be looking over her shoulder at him?

  30. Jerry in Fl on 14 May 2012 at 5:43 pm #

    Look up granite in Wikipedia and see some very interesting pictures including Halfdome and an impossible stack of flat bolders.

  31. Mark in TTown on 14 May 2012 at 7:00 pm #

    I think if he turns the painting around, she will run around the tree and stay hidden.

  32. Charlotte in NH on 14 May 2012 at 7:20 pm #

    Mark’s is the best idea yet. It’s certainly what I would do if I were in the picture.

  33. Jack in Minnesota on 14 May 2012 at 7:28 pm #

    We just had a couple of counter tops replaced with a synthetic quartz product. I think it’s made of recycled glass among other things and marketed under the name Cambria. It’s pretty nice stuff. What really amazed me is the process. They came to make a template, so I was visualising pieces of cardboard and masking tape, especially in the L-shaped lower corner section that had other cabinets on both sides. Instead, they stuck a special tape with dots of various sizes on every edge, horizontal and vertical, and tossed a couple of cards about a foot square with more various sized dots onto the horizontal surfaces. Then they took a bunch of pictures with a digital camera from every angle. They explained that the pictures are fed into a computer which then cuts out the counter tops with a robotic mill (really expensive software). When they laid the pieces into place they fit so perfectly it looked like they had been poured in.

  34. sandcastler on 14 May 2012 at 7:43 pm #

    Jack, Cambria is a natural quartz suspended in a resin.

    Clearly the painting is American as the lady is hiding.

  35. Robin in Fl on 14 May 2012 at 9:54 pm #

    Jack

    If I really wanted a hard surface and was redoing a house I think i would go with recycled glass, like terrazzo. But I’m tired of breaking things on granite. And I have this eco-aversion to tearing down mountains to make pretty kitchens that people will tire of soon.

  36. Mindy from Indy on 14 May 2012 at 10:50 pm #

    Am I the only one wondering where the poor lady’s clothes and transportation have gone? Hope it isn’t bug season.

  37. Mark in TTown on 14 May 2012 at 10:59 pm #

    Well, if it was Greek mythology, the lady probably would be living in the tree. Worse than bug season is poison ivy/oak season!
    I’m not avoiding the countertop discussion, just don’t have anything to say about them. No personal knowledge/experience with these new types.

  38. sideburns on 15 May 2012 at 2:35 am #

    My sister had the kitchen counters here replaced with granite several years ago and we’ve not had the slightest trouble with them. They still look great. They’re also easy to keep clean, and that’s a good thing because neither of us was ever any good at house keeping.

  39. Mary in Ohio on 15 May 2012 at 4:28 pm #

    David in Austin – when I changed planes in KC it was DEFINITELY pre-9/11.