Jun 5th 2012 08:36 am Snooze to me!

Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
I was going to talk more about color this morning, but I haven’t much time. Besides, I was sidetracked by the conversation about one of my favorite things, live oaks. “Live oak” is a somewhat broad term for a variety of oaks that retain foliage year round. I know from experience live oaks shed leaves prodigiously, usually in the spring. However, new leaves are coming along at the same time, so the branches never appear bare. When I think of live oaks, and when I include them in the strip, I see majestic old giants such as this one, which I believe is in Texas, where one would encounter a seaside ecosystem not unlike the one depicted in the strip. I’ll get back to color tomorrow. Or the next day.

The retro strip today speaks of newspapers, as we have been.

Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J

30 Responses to “Snooze to me!”

  1. billinbossier on 05 Jun 2012 at 8:47 am #

    I have heard from some sources that Guinness is the largest selling beer in the world. On the other hand, some sources say it is Bud Light. A world of difference in those too. However, a friend of mine turned me on the Franziskaner Weissbier (wheat beer) at a Ren Fest a few weeks ago. I love it, and now keep it at home, along with several brands of Mexican beers.

  2. Mike from Long Island on 05 Jun 2012 at 9:06 am #

    My admiration for Arlo continues to grow……Arlo is a Guinness Man……….Slainte !!

  3. Sylvia in MS on 05 Jun 2012 at 9:08 am #

    I like the Friendship Oak on the coast of Mississippi. Many years ago I worked at USM and helped with registration at USM-Gulf Park campus where the Friendship Oak lives. There are several of the old live oaks along the coast, even after the hurricanes after passed through.

  4. phil in Missoula, MT on 05 Jun 2012 at 10:41 am #

    There is a giant live oak next to St John’s Cathedral in Lafayette http://100oaks.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/st-john-cathedral-oak-cathedral-oak/
    and another, called the Evangiline Oak in St Martinsville LA (where Evangiline waited for her lover after the British expelled them from Acadia in Longfellow’s epic poem) that impress me.

    Live oaks keep their leaves until the new growth pushes the old leaves off, so you get to rake leaves in March and sneeze your head off with yellow pollen all over everything.

    As to beer, I’m with Arlo. I like beer with body and mouth-feel, although I tend to favor the American stouts which are slightly sweeter than Guiness. I’ve heard that, if an Irishman orders a Guiness in a pub and it shows up in less than two minutes, he’ll be giving the barman a glare. The head needs time to develop.

  5. phil in Missoula, MT on 05 Jun 2012 at 10:53 am #

    Billinbossier – If you go into almost any pub in Ireland you will always find the following on tab: Guiness (the regular ale), Smithwicks, a hard cider whose name I’ve forgotten, and Budweiser. It boggled me at first that Bud could sell beer in Ireland, but I finally decided that it must be a sop to the American tourists who have been misled all their lives about the qualities of good beer.

  6. John in Virginia on 05 Jun 2012 at 11:19 am #

    Best beer in the world is New Zealand Steinlager. Next comes PBR Dark Draft, and I don’t know if that’s even brewed any longer.

  7. Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 05 Jun 2012 at 11:55 am #

    The Live Oak discussion reminds me that a a few years ago Royal Oak started attracting a lot of bars and restaurants. So it went from being a Dead Oak to a Live Oak.

  8. Rich in Belchertown on 05 Jun 2012 at 12:11 pm #

    Everyone knows that the best beer in the world is the one in my glass.

  9. sideburns on 05 Jun 2012 at 12:18 pm #

    The first time I ever heard the term “Live Oak” was when I went to a summer camp as a boy. We were told that the trees were Live Oaks, but weren’t told what the distinction was, probably because the counselors didn’t know. In fact, up until now, I’d always thought that it was just a name and didn’t mean anything in particular. Live and learn.

  10. Tom in Glendora, CA on 05 Jun 2012 at 12:40 pm #

    I have a magnificient California Live Oak in the parkway in front of my house. It is huge.
    And a pain in the butt in one way. The dead leaves have little spikes and when you
    step on one barefoot, it really hurts! I don’t walk around barefoot any more.

    But it’s a beautiful tree as are all the live oaks on my street.

  11. Bryan on 05 Jun 2012 at 1:42 pm #

    Jimmy-
    Is today’s archive comic a tip-o-the-hat to Greg’s premier of Hubris yesterday on GoComics?

  12. Boise Ed on 05 Jun 2012 at 2:21 pm #

    Rich in Belchertown, you beat me to it. I don’t CARE what is the largest selling beer (or most anything else, for that matter) in the world — I care about the beer that pleases me. And here in Boise, there are SO many great ones. Not to mention our neighbors in Oregon and Montana. … And, given the discussions today, I should also give kudos to Live Oak Brewing in Austin, TX.

  13. CW in 617 on 05 Jun 2012 at 3:30 pm #

    In an hour or so, on my way home, I’ll be stopping by a tavern that claims to pour the most Guinness in the metropolitan area, no mean feat in 617. The owner and most of the bartenders are from Ireland, and they are rightfully proud of their product. Guinness is so popular locally that any bartender who can’t pour a good pint doesn’t last long.

    Also, this establishment is quite near several independent bookstores that often have author signings (hint, hint, nudge, nudge), and three subway stops from Redbones (more hints and nudges).

    In an unrelated matter, it’s overcast and rainy here, so no Venus transit. I’ll hang on to my eclipse glasses until 21xx (guess it won’t matter to me what the exact date is).

  14. John in Richmond Texas on 05 Jun 2012 at 3:49 pm #

    best beer – A&W Root

  15. phil in Missoula, MT on 05 Jun 2012 at 4:17 pm #

    Okay, all you colonist wannabes, here’s your chance…
    http://www.gizmag.com/mars-one-human-settlement-2023/22799/

    Personally, I would have jumped at this when I was younger, before I tied the ties that bind. Now I appreciate what an incredible leap of faith the colonists to this country made, knowing they’d never see home nor kin again.

  16. Ruth Anne in Winter Park on 05 Jun 2012 at 4:34 pm #

    Phil in Missoula: It wasn’t just the early colonists. Mary Black (an Irish singer with a lovely voice) has a song called Ellis Island; the chorus never fails to put a lump in my throat – “This is the last call for Ellis Island. These are the last words I’m ever gonna hear you say … So goodbye, babe. Goodbye, babe.”

    Communication is so simple and so constant for us today that it’s easy to forget how different things were a century ago, or less, and still are for some parts of the world.

  17. Ruth Anne in Winter Park on 05 Jun 2012 at 4:38 pm #

    Just discovered that Neal Brazil wrote “Ellis Island”. You can hear Mary Black sing it here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVVBvKZG7QE

  18. Jerry in Fl on 05 Jun 2012 at 4:59 pm #

    My wife grew up on Live Oak (Ave or Lane or street I don’t recall), a property that we just sold a couple of years ago. There were several large live oaks in the yard, the largest would have probably taken at least eight people holding hands to go around the trunk. Her father built the house in 1939 and after we had the floors redone it has the most beautiful oak floors. The new plastic wood floors pale in comparison. I suppose the flora in a state as large as California must vary a lot, but I wil never forget a guy from California asking me what that gray stuff was hanging fom the trees. It’s Spanish moss although the Spanish had nothing to do with it. Unlike kudzu it does’t take over or harm the tree. It’s more like a Christmas tree decoration and there is no green in it. The limbs of a live oak can get so large and heavy that they hang down to the ground, sometimes takng root and growing a new tree. To keep the limbs from breaking from their own weight they are sometimes wired to the trunk. If you buy an artificial plant you may find artificial moss in the pot. Time to go as we seem to have a tropical storm going on at the moment.

  19. Jerry in Fl on 05 Jun 2012 at 5:10 pm #

    For pictures do a search for photos of large oak trees. A canopied road is a road with overhanging limbs making the road look somewhat like a New England covered bridge. It is beautiful, but they do have their drawbacks such as no grass under an oak.

  20. Craig T on 05 Jun 2012 at 5:58 pm #

    I haven’t tried every beer in the world. How can I possible know which one is best? How can anyone?

  21. Boise Ed on 05 Jun 2012 at 6:30 pm #

    Craig: You just have to keep trying! The best beer in the world is the one you like best.

  22. Galliglo in Ohio on 05 Jun 2012 at 6:39 pm #

    Can hardly believe that none of us commented on the daily strip for Sunday! Casablanca is probably one of my favorite movies ever – if not THE favorite. When one thinks of the actual story involved, the response might be – “How hokey!” But once you start watching – oh my! One of the most romantic tales ever. I KNEW Arlo would be a lover of Casablanca!

  23. John in Virginia on 05 Jun 2012 at 7:08 pm #

    Here’s lookin’ at you, Kid.

  24. Mindy on 05 Jun 2012 at 7:15 pm #

    I saw that, John.

    Jimmy, your live oak gif makes a great newspaper on my desktop. Thanks!

  25. John in Virginia on 05 Jun 2012 at 7:18 pm #

    That’s “wallpaper,” Mindy. Jeez, and I’m supposed to be the Romulan. Or Klingon.

  26. Ruth Anne in Winter Park on 05 Jun 2012 at 8:20 pm #

    Maybe there weren’t any comments here about Sunday’s strip but Mike Peterson did a nice job on Comic Strip of the Day.

  27. Lost in A**2 on 05 Jun 2012 at 9:38 pm #

    I’ve seen the movie a few times, but I only recognised one quote. I guess I need to buy a copy.

    I stopped drinking Guinness when I read the label: most of the stuff available around here is imported “Product of Canada.” The cans with the widgets were brewed in Ireland, but I don’t like widgets, on principle. So I drink ‘Merican stouts, mostly Edmund Fitzgerald. I’ve tried a couple of the local brews, but they use actual chocolate and coffee to achieve those tastes.

    I do like Steinlager, but I don’t see it very often.

    “Foster’s: Australian for Canadian beer!”

  28. Jeff in Ann Arbor on 05 Jun 2012 at 9:45 pm #

    I’ve been brewing my own beer for nearly 40 years, and I like it the best!

  29. Jerry in Fl on 06 Jun 2012 at 1:24 am #

    I have to note the perfectly straight line of earthquakes extending from the Bering Sea SW down through Japan, Vietnam and down through the Indian Ocean. Significant earthquakes at the poles are also rare but recently there have been almost concurrent quakes at the north and south poles. Popular culture has California breaking away but I see it being more likely that Japan, beginning with Yokohama, will slide off into the nearby trench and a tsunami will then cause devastation in coastal California.

  30. phil in Missoula, MT on 06 Jun 2012 at 5:58 pm #

    Jerry, is that a straight line on a projection or a geodesic on a globe?