Dec 8th 2010 09:21 am Speak!
Ok, I never said this is great stuff. I said it is interesting, in a historical context. I drew these strips only months after experimenting with Baskerville, a comic strip that featured talking dogs. I suppose I was having a hard time letting go of the canine humor altogether. However, in my next attempt, the strip that actually became Arlo and Janis, there were no pets initially. If I had carried some version of Boofus over into the new strip, there probably would be no Ludwig today, because one pet in a family comic strip is enough.
Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J
38 Responses to “Speak!”
Nodak Wayne on 08 Dec 2010 at 9:34 am #
A late post from yesterday.
http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=94982
Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 08 Dec 2010 at 9:55 am #
The Family Circus and Garfield both have multiple pets (although Odie at first belonged to a friend).
I don’t think of Arlo and Janis and those strips in the same context. We are glad that you have Ludwig. Of course you could look into my window and see how my wife pleads with me to get a dog. That might keep Janis occupied for a week or so.
John in Podunk on 08 Dec 2010 at 10:01 am #
It’s hard to imaging Arlo & Janis without Ludwig.
maggie on 08 Dec 2010 at 10:25 am #
I’d have to agree that one pet is enuff in the comic strip. Ludie shouldn’t have to share any glory. However, in real life, it’s hard to have just one cat. Somehow, if you have one, you always seem to end up with more than one. Personally, it seems like 3 cats are the perfect amount to share your home with.
Mindy on 08 Dec 2010 at 10:52 am #
Maggie, trust me, you don’t share your home with a cat. The cat shares its home with you. [Which is not to imply that I don't love cats!]
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 08 Dec 2010 at 11:08 am #
Maggie: For animal science reasons, Temple Grandin, in “Animals make us human”, suggests that two cats is optimal. A good read.
Yesterday, many discussed the significance of, and woeful ignorance about, Dec. 7 and various other dates. For what it’s worth, today is a pleasant anniversary, the first time a real woman played the role of a woman on the stage in England. The French had been doing it for some time: http://www.elabs7.com/functions/message_view.html?mid=1135045&mlid=499&siteid=20130&uid=0ba1737e41
billinbossier on 08 Dec 2010 at 11:37 am #
maggie,
My cat will not allow another cat into the house, or even the yard! He is makes that quite clear.
buzz on 08 Dec 2010 at 11:56 am #
Are you a dog person or a cat person, Jimmy? I ask because Boofus looks more like a real dog than Ludwig does a cat.
Mind you, I like Ludwig’s design: It’s very retro 1930s/Krazy Kat-ish and is in keeping w/the stylized humans.
James Pollock on 08 Dec 2010 at 12:19 pm #
20 years ago, I had a cat. The cat selected me (as they tend to do) to the exclusion of my now ex-wife, so we got another cat, who also selected me. That isn’t the story, however, this is.
The first cat got a good look at what we’d brought home, declared “we already HAVE a cat!” and for over a year, would not suffer to be in the same room as the second cat. If cat #2 walked into the room, cat #1 would get up and stalk out. In fact, it wasn’t until years later, that cat #3 entered the picture, that cat #1 and cat#2 agreed on something.
“For better or for worse” has multiple dogs in it. Or did, before the reboot. Bloom County even had multiple talking pets (Though Bill the Cat’s dialogue was usually limited to “Ack”, which to me indicates that he really did belong in “Cathy”.) Doonesbury, of course, had talking plants.
The revelation that Ludwig is, in fact, played by a dog means that there’s a talking dog in Arlo & Janis.
sideburns on 08 Dec 2010 at 1:03 pm #
On a slight carry-over from the last strip, yes, Midway was what I was thinking of. Can any of you imagine the US being able to spare enough shipping to support D Day if the Japanese were still on the attack in the Pacific?
Dave in MA on 08 Dec 2010 at 1:07 pm #
emeritus Minnesota biologist , today is also an unpleasant day for those who lament the murder of John Lennon on Dec 8, 1980, 30 years ago today. Interesting, while not in England, there’s the obvious connection to England in this low point like your high point.
Jim in SE Mississippi on 08 Dec 2010 at 1:20 pm #
Personally, I’ll always best remember Bill the Cat for “”Thbbft!”
sideburns on 08 Dec 2010 at 2:45 pm #
It’s amazing, isn’t it, how much information that dog can get into “Woof!” It reminds me of the way the Librarian can pack loads of meaning into “Ook!”
curmudgeonly ex-professor on 08 Dec 2010 at 3:13 pm #
For my money, Ludwig wins, paws down. I enjoy the way he is involved every so often in manners not apparently existing in other strips. You did well to develop Ludwig instead of Boofus, JJ.
Mary in Ohio on 08 Dec 2010 at 4:01 pm #
Also, Ben (here) appears to be quite a bit older than Arlo.
Tom in Southern Ohio on 08 Dec 2010 at 6:20 pm #
Sideburns: And the Great A’Tuin packs loads of meaning into not saying anything at all… or not. No one really knows…
Regards,
Tom
Jerry in Fl on 08 Dec 2010 at 10:36 pm #
Once again I posted in the wrong thread, the previous one instead of the current one. Although much too long it was basically supposed to be about cats and may be of interest only to James. I only say that because we went through the same situation when we brought Spunky, age approximately 7 months at the time, into the home belonging to brother and sister, Elvis and Cilla, 16 months old at the time. The lion king wasted no time in informing her who was head cat, but we named her Spunky for a reason and he is now getting his payback.
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 08 Dec 2010 at 11:09 pm #
Tom and Sideburns: Thanks for the digression; I Metacrawlered “Ook” and from there meandered through Diskworld and such. Too much on my plate to pursue it, but it would be interesting. Now if Ursula would fill in the details about Hainish origins and ethics [?] and their later withdrawal, that I might pursue.
I have decided that one of the properties of the deity Ursula apparently denies is that She gets to finish the stories: e.g., what happens to Shevek after he returns to Anarres, or which of the endings of John Fowles’s “French Lieutenant’s Woman” is the right one. I wonder if either LeGuin or Fowles realized how much Saemtonevia [sp?] Prospect in A-Io resembled Oxford Street in London. The teaching team realized it in Honors 100. 120 9.1
Jerry in Fl on 09 Dec 2010 at 12:44 am #
We recently had some fun discussing Paul von Hindenburg, the second president of Germany, and I find myself thinking about someone else from that general area, namely Austrian born Dr. Hans Asperger. His work has been a subject of particular interest to me for several years and I was wondering if anyone else is familiar with this subject.
TruckerRon on 09 Dec 2010 at 1:45 am #
If you should mean Asperger’s Syndrome, then yes, I happen to have two daughters with that particular problem.
Rich in Belchertown on 09 Dec 2010 at 8:47 am #
Jimmy, although I am a dog person, I admire the work you’ve done with Ludwig. With a few simple lines, you’ve been able to express so much with his character, and all without resorting to the dreaded “thought balloon.” On a related note, how old is old Luddie? If he’s aging at the same rate as Gene (about two cartoon years for every three calendar years) and he was one when he first appeared in the strip, that would make him about 15, I think. Take good care of him; I’d miss him if he weren’t around.
Jerry in Fl on 09 Dec 2010 at 10:46 am #
Trucker, yes I did and I also have a son with AS. His mother and others in her family including her mother and her mother’s family also have AS. As you know , it is apparently genetic. I also know other adults with it. Ny son is working on a masters in IT and he has never made anything less than an “A’ in any class. The adults that I know have very successful careers, but unhappy personal lives. Simply understanding the disorder and its effects is a great help to the family in relating to these individuals. My other son is much different in his personality. When I thought that he was old enough to understand I explained to him about Aspergers and I think that it helped him a little in relating to his brother and may have been part of the reason why he is following in my steps and will get his masters in psychology. You can probably imagine why I happened to mention the subject.
Phil in Sugar Land, TX on 09 Dec 2010 at 10:48 am #
Jerry in FL;
We don’t have that particular problem in our family but I know several families who do. One person I know was in her 30′s before someone put their finger on it…previously she was just considered asocial and a bit odd. But she has a Masters in computer science and lives a life that is satifying to her. She makes more than her sibling who is socially normal.
I worked a lot of years in IT and I suspect that people with this syndrome are drawn to computers, for a number of reasons, primary of which would be the opportunity to work at something that is highly structured with minimal need for social interaction.
All of which is to say that there is nothing wrong with the intelligence…they just see the world a little differently than the rest of us. I think that if a kid is carefully steered through the hell of peer torment, probably in a special school or by home-schooling, he or she can live a good life.
debbie on 09 Dec 2010 at 1:54 pm #
I was looking at today’s strip and reading the comments….do they not realize this is a STRIP? the comments about pouring a glass of water down the drain was so funny….I know, I know, but it’s a STRIP. In real life, I’m sure Arlo would have used that room-temperature water for an African violet or something. I know cats are smart, but come on….can they really notify their pets that the electric blanket is off?
debbie on 09 Dec 2010 at 1:59 pm #
when thinking upon my previous comment, maybe I shouldn’t laugh, I mean A&J are culturally significant and we are influenced by their choices….please don’t start using strategically placed products.
Bob, near Mark on 09 Dec 2010 at 2:23 pm #
In the third panel of today’s strip, Ludwig is looking at US while Arlo is turning on the electric blanket. It’s like Luddie’s saying, “Have I got him trained, or what?”
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 09 Dec 2010 at 4:30 pm #
“Speak!” reminds me of a line I once heard: God is always speaking to us; we just don’t understand the language.
Mary in Ohio on 09 Dec 2010 at 4:57 pm #
Well, I’m glad you people chimed in – I thought Arlo was turning on the bedside lamp, and I wondered if Loodie wanted the heat from the bulb. So I was on the right track, sort of. As I may have mentioned, my cats are my electric blanket.
As for Asperger’s Syndrome, I had never heard of it until I read a Sharyn McCrumb novel several years ago. I actually think I may have AS. It explains a lot…and it wouldn’t be the worst thing you could have if you ended up an elementary school teacher.
TruckerRon on 09 Dec 2010 at 9:54 pm #
One of the many problems with AS is getting it diagnosed in time to help the developing child survive the educational system. My mother was brilliant at everything BUT math, so the schools rushed her through, skipping two grades… and she SEEMED socially normal except for wanting to have as little as possible to do with me or my brother until we reached middle school age… and she repeated that with her granddaughters. Once my daughters were diagnosed (ages 23 and 7 at that time), it became obvious that Mom also had a limited social circle of about 8 close friends and a bunch of people that she associated with but had no warmth towards.
The earliest conversation I remember having with Dad was him telling me how to better get along with Mom and how to NOT trigger her ice-cold anger.
The key for my being a decent father to my girls was learning the value of validating emotions and getting the girls to suggest courses of action themselves. It’s amazing how creative children can be when you give them permission to speak freely (something my mother NEVER tolerated until we were “old enough to know anything.” (Yep, I’m in counseling for all that!)
Ghost Rider 6 on 09 Dec 2010 at 10:25 pm #
debbie: I guess if one is a true environmentalist, one won’t put up with even comic strip water or comic strip electricity being wasted.
Well, I suppose we all have to save the world in our own way. One good way, from a billboard I saw recently: “You can’t fix stupid, but you can vote them out of office.”
Reading anything good tonight?
Jerry in Fl on 10 Dec 2010 at 12:28 am #
When I began talking to people in the general public about AS, which was about 10 years ago, people thought that I was making it up. It’s too bad that the doctor had a name that sounds like a profane joke. Even information on the internet lacks several important clues that are very helpful in making the diagnosis. If I had to name the one single outstanding characteristic that is always present I actually can’t do it, but I can give you two. First, the individual doesn’t “get it”. They cannot make inferences. If you walk up to me and extend your hand, I would know that you expect to shake hands. If we are sitting around the dinner table and you hold out the mashed potatos in my direction, I understand that you are offering me the opportunity to get some potatos and/or pass them on to the next person. Someone with AS may realize that you are looking at them and not speaking and they will say “What?” People with AS do not repeat do not get jokes. Second, they are obsessed with some subject almost to the exclusion of everything else. This sounds like obsessive/compulsive, but you are not likely to immediately notice their interest until you have been around the person for at least a short time. Most people in my experience that have AS are not mentally retarded and may in fact have a very high IQ. Even someone that has AS and a lower IQ can work successfully. I knew of a young man who was obsessed with bicycles and he was happily working in a bicycle shop. to be continued
Jerry in Fl on 10 Dec 2010 at 12:46 am #
Although it is felt that AS is a form of autism it will usually not have any of the characteristics that you may be used to oberving. There are several other characteristics involving speech, smell, touch, etc. Because of television shows like 20/20 the public is becoming aware of AS, especially now that there is such an interest in bullying. For anyone interested in learning more about AS there are many excellent books available. For those who know that you have AS you have no doubt learned methods of dealing with the stresses that you face. If you suspect or have been told that you have a child that may have AS you need to call around and try to locate a specialist. Most LMHC’s, psychologists and psychiatrists know little if anything about it. I appreciate your interest and I never intended to do anything except make a passing reference to the subject. NOW-back to the entertainment portion of our program.
debbie on 10 Dec 2010 at 1:02 am #
Jerry in Fl: Always good to learn something for my field.
GR6: The Bible is my main reading just now. While I usually read in it everyday, I have not been to the library recently due to workload and too many things are happening…one of my friends has been diagnosed with breast cancer (I am on her team though she has not called on me, yet) and as a matter of fact, I am ditching a Christmas party because of time constraints.
Ghost Rider 6 on 10 Dec 2010 at 7:24 am #
debbie: Your friend will be in my thoughts and prayers.
Jerry in Fl on 10 Dec 2010 at 7:56 am #
Debbie, My mother is a breast cancer survivor and I have survived two types of cancer myself. A woman that I worked with had several operations and chemo, but she is alive and well today. Be strong.
Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 10 Dec 2010 at 8:56 am #
I think that if there is one thing to learn from the AS discussion is that we are all different and learn in different ways and different strengths. I actually had an intellegence test done and one of the things that I was told was that I had some very great strengths that would make people assume that I was intellegent, but some great weaknesses that some would think that I was not too smart. So that has caused issues from time to time with certain employers because they assumed that I was not using my gifts to the fullest potential (i.e. lazy) It is good to be around employers and friends who accept me for who I am. While I am not AS, I can certainly empathize with them.
When my son was a Freshman in HS, he was having a great deal of trouble with school. I demanded that he be given a study hall and the school offered a tutor, but unfortunately he did not have a free hour during his schedule. When things got worse, I asked that he be taken out of PE as he had just set the Freshman record in the 1600 meters and I did not feel that he needed it. Fortunately the School Board agreed. He had a tutor for the next 4 years and after 5 1/2 years of study, received his bachelors in Manufacturing Engineering. His HS teachers were amazed.
Mary in Ohio on 10 Dec 2010 at 5:44 pm #
Jerry – well, as far as jokes and mashed potatoes, I guess I don’t have AS. I get inferences. I imagine there are degrees of it, as there with many disabilities.
Debbie – thoughts and prayers to your friend and to anyone else dealing with health problems.
Steve – how fortunate for your son that the school board apparently had at least one brain among them. This is unusual. If they are still around, I know several districts that would like to borrow them en masse!
Mark in Boston on 10 Dec 2010 at 8:14 pm #
I suppose in todays’ overdiagnosis culture I might possibly be diagnosed with AS but I don’t think I have it.
I do get jokes, but I don’t get hints.
My mother would say “The garbage can is full” and I’d look at it and see that she’s right.
On the other hand, why do people communicate in hints? Janis used to do that a lot. “Aren’t you cold?” meaning “Please turn up the heat.”
When I want the peas I ask “Please pass the peas.” I don’t say “I see a bowl full of peas on the table” and I don’t say “Aren’t you hungry for peas?”
I don’t get laid.