Feb 13th 2013 08:26 am Walking My Cat Named Arrgh!
While we’re in the Ludwig-on-Sunday mode, here is one from 2009. Have you seen today’s A&J, the one at GoComics and in newspapers? It’s a prime example of what is produced when the cartoonist is absolutely stuck for an idea and running out of time. It also was a gentle poke at a lot of comic-strip artists out there, particularly those who produce exclusively with digitial tools. You see a lot of it these days, identical panels except for the lettering and a few cosmetic tweaks from panel to panel. Hey, I’ve done it myself with Photoshop on rare occasions. Done it surreptitiously, I mean, hoping nobody will notice. However, at Arlo & Janis we make cartoons the old-fashioned way. We grind them out with pen and ink.
Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J
60 Responses to “Walking My Cat Named Arrgh!”
sandcastler on 13 Feb 2013 at 8:33 am #
JJ, thanks for the retro. Brings back fond memories of a cat that once owned us, he believed he was either a shawl or a parrot.
Jade7 on 13 Feb 2013 at 8:47 am #
How about when you find characters and items copied and pasted not only from previous panels, but even worse, from previous strips!?!
Jean in Dahlonega Ga aka Trapper Jean on 13 Feb 2013 at 8:55 am #
Ghost, Hi! The recuperation is going well. A bit slower than I would like, and I overdid the first couple of days, but learned my lesson. Still hobbling a bit, but I’m getting around.
Poor Arlo!! At the moment I have a two-inch long…gash is not the right word, but it’s more than a mere scratch on my arm courtesy of one of my cats. She was sitting on my lap and got one foot tangled in the yarn I was working with. When I tried to untangle her she must have thought she was falling, and tried to regain her balance. OUCH!
Neal in Bahstawn on 13 Feb 2013 at 8:57 am #
What we’re also getting are two strips (retro and today’s ‘real time’) that break the ‘fourth wall’ – A&J are ‘aware’ that they are in a comic strip and speaking to an audience of readers rather than just to themselves. How cool is that?
And, is is today’s title a subtle play of the great and underappreciated Norma Tanega song, “Walking My Cat Named Dog”? (Which you can listen to here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W689VAeJOd0)
Mindy on 13 Feb 2013 at 9:00 am #
Jimmy, we’re used to your surreptitious activities. How else would you be able to peek into so many windows of so many rooms to capture the human stain? Strain? Oh, heck, the humor and pathos of human beings. Help me here, guys. I’ve gotten stuck with what I’m trying to say.
In any case, Jimmy, we don’t mind your surreptitiousness. [I didn't even know that was a word!] The fact that you’re so good at peeking is why we’ve all fallen in love with Arlo and Janis, and, by extension, you. [Don't start squirming, none of us are stalkers. Except, maybe, that one person who...oh, never mind. I got stuck again.]
FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!
Symply Fargone on 13 Feb 2013 at 9:24 am #
Tiger used to do that walk from my shoulder to my best bud’s shoulder while we walked down the sidewalk, we felt kewl…of course we thought it was his brother’s treatment of the cat as a kitten that made Tiger so docile. Great cat, until you tried to give him a bath, used tuna fish for bait, but we got all scratched up the tuna got eaten and the only wet things were Les and me. Another Symply Fargone adventure.
Mindy from Indy on 13 Feb 2013 at 9:25 am #
Repost from the prior day’s entry:
Very funny Mindy. You’ve brought to mind a scene from the movie “Twister,” where everyone gangs up on Helen Hunt’s character for a detour to her aunt’s for breakfast. And while I sure you understand I did not mean “food as topic changer” in such a simplistic way, looking back through this site shows we tend to wander down the food court when the subject is brought up. True story: I was looking for a recipie someone had posted here, I went back a fair bit in search of it. I ultimately copies multiple pages of tips and recipes before I found the one that prompted the search, and while food might have been the dominate subject, it was never the “only” subject.
Re: Valentine’s Day – it, weddings, and wedding receptions are the biggest money suck I can think of outside of politicians and “reality stars.” Save the money for a home, reliable transportation, and emergencies.
sandcastler, I still have to read up about the historical angle to Mardi Gras. I’ve always thought of Mardi Gras as the “get all the crazies out before Lent” party. The meaning of life? I would be interested in reading your thoughts on the subject. However, I will be visiting family the next couple of days, and will be without Internet access for that time. I would love a raincheck if you would be so kind as to offer one.
PS – Blacklight would maul me before she could ever be positioned this way. Love a broken fourth wall – “Hi Arlo!”
carl on 13 Feb 2013 at 9:31 am #
i would rather see clever dialog in a strip than artsy cartoons. fortunately yours are both clever AND artsy. unfortunately our newspaper has a lot that are neither clever nor artsy.
Ginger on 13 Feb 2013 at 9:46 am #
I’m going to try to be serious for a moment or two. That’s one. What fascinates me is how some comics, such as Arlo and Janis, and a few others such as (I think it’s okay to mention other cartoons here?) Frazz or Bloom County (now defunct except in reruns) or Calvin and Hobbes (now also defunct except in reruns) are drawn skillfully and realistically. Others that I won’t name except for D*lb*rx (to help hide the real name of the example I have deleted vowels and changed the last consonant to something different, thereby encrypting the name so that no one can decipher it except with one of the NSA Sun SuperSystem computers) are actually rather…infantile?…in the way they are rendered. I’ve always wondered if the “lesser” cartoons are drawn by “artists” with truly lesser skills albeit with a decent sense of humor, of if the artistic skills are being hidden? D*lb*tG has some snarky and great workplace humor but I really don’t look forward to reading it as I do A&J simply because my mind locks on the artwork and automatically screams that it was drawn by a first grader.
Okay, burn me at the stake, guys, but I really don’t get much pleasure out of “reading” a first grader’s artwork. Honestly. Perhaps if the first grader was mine, or a relative…
Let’s change the topic to food. Or cats. Or GhostRider’s bunions…
Scott Adams on 13 Feb 2013 at 9:53 am #
Ginger,
I only assume I have offended you by not asking you out for a second date.
billinbossier on 13 Feb 2013 at 10:05 am #
I have noticed one strip in particular that uses the same building scene, with the voices coming out of it several times a month. Also, the same background with just the pre-drawn character pasted on it. Of course, we all know that JJ doesn’t do any of that. He works hard on each strip, which is why somedays we don’t hear from him. Keep up the good work
Scott Adams on 13 Feb 2013 at 10:24 am #
Bill,
Unlike with Ginger, we have never dated. And, yes I use that building over since that is where my characters work. Only guessing but, you either don’t work in an office or you change jobs frequently to not realize people go to the same work location everyday.
Ginger on 13 Feb 2013 at 10:26 am #
Scott? Refresh my memory, please, but when was the first date? No offense intended, you realize, but…
Scott Adams on 13 Feb 2013 at 10:39 am #
Ginger,
It was on a night when you had done several lines of nose candy, you were totally . . .
Jerry in Fl on 13 Feb 2013 at 10:49 am #
Mindy, My feeling on the Texas incident is that if I had killed two kids and, facing the rest of my life in prison, I would welcome what happened to the driver in this case. Am I to understand that we have been joined by a celebrity?
Ghost Rider 6 on 13 Feb 2013 at 11:21 am #
Scott, please keep Wally working in that building. He once worked for me, and if he lands on the job market again, I’m afraid the idiots at HR will re-hire him and send him back to me.
Mindy on 13 Feb 2013 at 11:31 am #
Mindy, I am totally lost. How did we happen to be on the “Texas incident,” pray tell? As for what the psychotic did, in Texas they strap a child murderer to an oak chair and light up his life. Or do they use what the cons call “Jesus Juice” to do it? [That's their term, not mine, so gripe at them not me!] Or are you referring to some other incident? And, Scott? Ginger says to ask what the heck you’re talking about also. [Gender specific pronoun deleted] says to make it clear that [gender specific pronoun deleted] has never done ANY lines nor does [gender specific pronoun deleted] intend to.
Ghost Rider 6 on 13 Feb 2013 at 11:37 am #
Jimmy, I feel sure that most of us not only don’t mind you occasionally recycling a panel, we actually approve of it, seeing as how that would free up little more time for you to devote to the blog, for which we sincerely thank you.
Anyone who would like to go to the blackboard and diagram the above sentence should feel free to do so.
Ghost Rider 6 on 13 Feb 2013 at 11:42 am #
Did you mention food, Mindy? Here’s something I fixed recently and carried to work for my all-female office staff’s lunch (pig-dog male chauvinist that I am). It was well received. I can’t remember if I got the recipe from someone here or not, but here it is…
Red Beans and Sausage
2 pounds hot hickory-smoked sausage, sliced
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
3 celery ribs, finely chopped
1 cup chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 (15-oz.) cans red beans, drained
1 (15-oz.) can tomato sauce
1 2/3 cups water
3 Tbsp. sweet pepper sauce
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. hot sauce
1 1/2 cups uncooked long-grain rice
Cook sausage in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat about 5 minutes, stirring until sausage is brown. Remove sausage, and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 Tbsp. drippings in Dutch oven. Sauté bell peppers and next 3 ingredients in hot drippings for 5 minutes, or until tender. Stir in red beans and next 5 ingredients. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in sausage. Simmer, covered, 1 1/2 hours. Prepare rice according to package directions. Serve Red Beans and Sausage over hot cooked rice.
Cooking red beans and rice on wash day Mondays is an old Louisiana custom. Families would simmer a pot of beans all day while they did laundry.
dAVE. on 13 Feb 2013 at 11:42 am #
What?! Pen and ink? No scissors and rubber cement?
JDS on 13 Feb 2013 at 11:46 am #
I think I’m lost. Who’s blog am I on? I came here to comment on Rat, Pig and Larry.
Charlotte in NH on 13 Feb 2013 at 12:08 pm #
Ghost –
Absolutely loved your comment on Wally! Very clever.
Scott –
I’ve followed your strip on and off for many years. A while back I enthusiastically recommended it to my daughter Amy, who at that time worked in a cubicle. She replied that it was “too close to the bone” for her to appreciate it. You and the other villagers can see what she was getting at.
Dave in MA on 13 Feb 2013 at 12:38 pm #
JJ, yes, I saw today’s and laughed my head off at the topic, considering the artwork that went with it.
Dave in MA on 13 Feb 2013 at 12:40 pm #
Neal, I thought the title was simply because the cat was on the shoulder like a pirate’s parrot….. Arrgh!
Dave in MA on 13 Feb 2013 at 12:45 pm #
Mindy, are you throwing us a line?
Dave in MA on 13 Feb 2013 at 12:47 pm #
Carryover from the previous day’s topic:
Blinky the Wonder Wombat, in answer to your question, “What solution do you suggest for those who insist on letting their kitties wander?”
Public stockade and torture for letting their cats out of the house.
Bryan on 13 Feb 2013 at 1:25 pm #
@ Dave in MA
I missed yesterdays conversations due to my death (I’m much better today, thanks for asking).
I agree with the Public stockade and torture. Although, if everyone kept their furry felines inside I would not have my “familiar”. He moved into my house, as a cub, when he realized I treated my cats better than his humans treated him. They left him and his sister out at night, to the gentle mercies of the coyotes, foxes, owls, and other things that go bump in the night. His sibling disappeared and he eventually showed up at my door hungry and bleeding from wounds on his back. I doctored him up and then took him home. The next day he again showed up on my stoop. This time I didn’t even offer to take him home. He’s never asked to go out in the 12 years since. He rarely even wants to go out into the fully enclosed cat run we built. I also reported the family to the shelter, which placed them on the “Do Not Adopt” list.
Neal in Bahstawn on 13 Feb 2013 at 1:31 pm #
Dave in MA, if you are of a certain age and listened to enough AM radio as a teenager, those things just jump off the screen at you. This is a medley of Norma Tanega’s greatest hit. It first entered the Billiboard Hot 100 on February 26, 1966; rose as high as #22, and disappeared nine weeks later. For what it’s worth, that same week saw the debut of the Lovin Spoonful’s (What a Day for a) Daydream and the Rolliong Stones’ 19 Nervous Breakdown.
sandcastler on 13 Feb 2013 at 1:35 pm #
Wow! I leave for a few hours to earn the rent money, come back to fruit basket upset.
GR6, have never experienced Wally first hand, can only imagine what his kind does for the team.
Dave, are you recommending the owners or the cats being pilloried? In one case ACLU would be up in arms, the other would have SPCA and PETA joining forces. Better choice might be to spay or neuter the owners, eventually the gene pool of irresponsible owners would be extinguished.
Jerry in Fl on 13 Feb 2013 at 1:46 pm #
If you didn’t read the comments in the previous thread then you may have missed something, you think? Scott, if you read my comment of a few weeks ago, I apologize. I really do like the strip. If you didn’t never mind. Wally used to be in the office next to me and you protrayed him perfectly. Wally and I are both retired now. Wally is enjoying his Harley and I am enjoying my 41 year old musclecar.
Mindy on 13 Feb 2013 at 1:50 pm #
I’m still lost, but that’s okay. Be back tomorrow.
Jerry in Fl on 13 Feb 2013 at 1:52 pm #
portrayed, duh. I should leave an uncorrected comment sometime. You should see when I type the state where JJ lives.
Jerry in Fl on 13 Feb 2013 at 2:01 pm #
OK, the comment re what I referred to as the Texas Incident was posted at 6:04 pm yesterday in which I briefly described what happened and asked for comment. I then started posting and watching the news both at the same time, but you all know what happened by now. Twig?
Lost in A**2 on 13 Feb 2013 at 2:44 pm #
Until you started explaining, Jerry, I did. Texas was the drunk-driving incident, and the news was that Californian deputy?
I suspect the ACLU would come out on the side of re-introducing pillorying.
Mark in TTown on 13 Feb 2013 at 3:54 pm #
Mindy, in Texas a man and his family, (wife, infant and two sons around 10 or 11 years old) were in a car that broke down. Dad and sons got out to push. Car was struck from behind by speeding drunk. One son DOA at scene, one died at hospital. Dad injured, wife and infant ok. Dad went to his car, got gun and returned to the perp’s car. No one saw shot fired, but heard it and drunk was found dead with single shot to head. Dad’s gun and ammo matched that recovered from dead man and dad was arrested and charged. Trial not yet begun, but arraignment is what just happened, I think.
Mark in TTown on 13 Feb 2013 at 4:02 pm #
here’s a link to the story:http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/21129023/father-charged-in-fatal-shooting-after-texas-wreck?obref=obinsite
I got something wrong above. The man’s young daughter was also in the car. They were very close to their home when this happened and the father walked home, then came back to the accident scene. Authorities seem to assume he went to get his weapon there, not from his car as I thought.
Mary in Ohio on 13 Feb 2013 at 4:23 pm #
One of my dearest calicos always wanted to climb in the car (in the garage) if I left a window down. So one day I got in and decided it couldn’t hurt, as I only had to drive the 2 miles to the post office. Put the windows up and off we went. For about 500 feet. At that point, the cat was on my head, claws dug in in terror,peeing down the back of my neck. Turned around in the nearest driveway, came home, put her inside, washed my hair and changed clothes.Went to the PO alone. I still miss that cat.
Bryan on 13 Feb 2013 at 5:58 pm #
Thank you Mary iO, I get to finish my workday with a chuckle!
Country Boy on 13 Feb 2013 at 6:31 pm #
I can’t say I wouldn’t have done what the father did, but I probably would have tried to make it look like he died in the crash. I mean, people suffer fatal TBI in auto accidents all the time, don’t they?
Lost in A**2 on 13 Feb 2013 at 6:33 pm #
One snowy day, I was sitting in my car between runs, listening to the radio and half-doziing. I woke up to a local folk-song program playing a A south Australian shanty. It’s been on my mind the past few days; I’ve only now remembered to share it. :/
Mark in TTown on 13 Feb 2013 at 7:24 pm #
Thank you Lost in A**2. I know the song so I can play the tune in my head when I read the lyrics. Glad to be in Alabama. Only place I want to see snow is on TV. Although I really don’t mind a little as long as it doesn’t overstay its welcome! One good thing about working from home, or one bad thing if you would use it as an excuse to stay home.
Mark in TTown on 13 Feb 2013 at 7:30 pm #
Here’s a good rendition of the original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vUqeDPZZ80
Ghost Rider 6 on 13 Feb 2013 at 7:43 pm #
Lady Mindy, can we just agree that El Phantasma is “exquisitely glamorous?”
And I don’t think you can blame Angus for the ruckus next door. Sounds as though you have self-poltergeisting neighbors. Angus is just a small, wizened noisemaker of Scottish descent who means no real harm. Much like how I picture sandcastler, come to think of it.
I too have had the apartment experience, but I always had good neighbors, or at least ones who read me as being someone who wouldn’t put up with any $#!+.
Jerry in Fl on 13 Feb 2013 at 8:07 pm #
That is the story that I was talking about. I already said what I would have wanted if I was the drunk guy, which is what he got. If I had been the father, I also do not carry a gun in the car, but hands around the throat will do the trick. I’m not saying that it is morally ok but, being human, I very likely would have accomplished the same thing as this man. I also think that he has some obvious legal defenses available and may be found not guilty of murder.
Jerry in Fl on 13 Feb 2013 at 8:14 pm #
I just had a thought. This guy walked home, leaving his wife and infant at the scene? Well, that does say something about his state of mind.
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 13 Feb 2013 at 8:16 pm #
Bad or pseudo-bad cartoons: I think Dilbert is pseudo-bad, and it works for me. D. cartoons are posted on lots of faculty doors here. I also understand that they are common in the kinds of businesses they make fun of, which is encouraging.
A favorite magazine, to which we had subscribed forever, and which I still take is The New Yorker. In the last couple of decades they have featured a number of terribly drawn cartoons, some of which are funny, and the seemingly most popular of which is mostly unfunny, to me at least. Weak humor about losers, mostly. This cartoonist has published > 1 book of cartoons; people must buy them. Maybe they do so because it’s fashionable. After all, people like or pretend to like 12-tone ‘classical’ music.
Jerry in Fl on 13 Feb 2013 at 8:30 pm #
No double meaning in this but, I couldn’t tell you what I like. I just know it when I see it or hear it.
TruckerRon on 13 Feb 2013 at 8:43 pm #
Jerry in Fl, I’m with you on doing it the old fashioned way. A bullet would be too merciful and leave me unsatisfied.
Galliglo in Ohio on 13 Feb 2013 at 8:46 pm #
Mark in TTown: Loved the link!
Galliglo in Ohio on 13 Feb 2013 at 8:51 pm #
This morning I was thinking about some of the recent comments… thought of the one supposedly FROM Ginger, talking ABOUT Ginger… I really think Mindy has an alter ego.
My thoughts galloped on (as they are prone to do) and thought about Mindy suspecting that Virgin Mindy is really a member of the village…
Then… thinking that none of us really know WHOM we are bantering with…
Then… perhaps JJ also has an alter ego in the mix…
It would be a perfect way to peek in the windows of our souls…
Mark in TTown on 13 Feb 2013 at 9:48 pm #
Jerry in Fl, according to the story he was 50 yards or less from home when he got hit. And yes, if you could walk away from your wife and two surviving children, that does say something about your state of mind. Sad situation anyway you look at it.
This past summer a similar incident took place here when a drunken driver ran over a mother and kids walking along a street in broad daylight. One little girl dead and the mother and other child badly injured. Guy backed up to take a look, then started to drive away but was stopped from leaving.
Lost in A**2 on 13 Feb 2013 at 10:02 pm #
I had thought “twelve-tone” meant the usual twelve tones of the octave. I hadn’t known that the term referred to particular use of those twelve tones. Thank you for the enlightenment, eMb.
Dennis Ewing on 13 Feb 2013 at 10:17 pm #
If I were to sit on that jury I’d give the man a medal.
Ghost Rider 6 on 13 Feb 2013 at 10:49 pm #
Gal, Mindy apparently also sometimes posts as John. She seems not to have entirely figured out how to use that pesky “Name” box above the Comments when she posts. Or are you just implying that she hasn’t outgrown having imaginary playmates?
A few years ago (can you believe this blog has been around long enough ago to be able to reference “a few years ago”?), someone tossed out the idea that Jimmy might sometimes post on his own blog under a pseudonym. Hilarity ensued as some tried to decide who he might be posting as.
You’re correct that we really don’t know who each other is here, although I think most of us form what may well be fairly accurate mental pictures of some of the regulars. For example, as many of you may have surmised, I myself am an introverted eighteen-year-old albino male virgin with limited social skills who never leaves my basement room but who reads a lot. Or am I?
sideburns on 13 Feb 2013 at 11:55 pm #
No, GR6, I don’t find that description of you plausible. If it were, you’d be posting on Slashdot, not here. (The fact that I also post on Slashdot has nothing to do with that.)
Jerry in Fl on 14 Feb 2013 at 12:27 am #
Actually Ghost, that description is, I think, pretty close, or was that someone else using your name, a spectural playmate perhaps?
Mindy on 14 Feb 2013 at 3:43 am #
I’m back, and that’s exactly how I see Ghost. Except for the “introverted eighteen-year-old albino male virgin with limited social skills who never leaves [his] basement room but who reads a lot.” That part doesn’t sound like him at all. Except maybe the “male” part. I don’t believe a female could ever fake his maleostity. Maleismness? And that “Name” box gets really complicated at times, Ghost! I mean, first of all I have to remember it and then find it and then enter a name or even erase a name before entering a name which means typing which means one wronk letter and I’m nailed which means put a leash on your fevered imaginary after the word “nailed” which I’ve tried to erase and white-out only to further damage the scree and besides which it didn’t mean what your fevered maleishness mind immejiately pictured…oh, phooey, it’s more than half past four in the ayem and I can’t sleep so I think I’m either going to fix some brekkie or else go pour honey on John’s [insert fevered male imagination adjective/noun here]. I still don’t know what was meant by the “second date” and “several lines of nose candy” comments earlier. Ginger, by the way, is real and [gender specific pronoun deleted] my best friend…after John…and my pet frog…and that squirrel named Ghost that lives in the tree behind the house…and my mood ring which playes “Fade to Black” when it goes dark [love that song, always lights up my day unlike Debbie Boone]…or Rowan Atkinson in “Black Adder”…or…
Debbe59 on 14 Feb 2013 at 4:04 am #
And a good morning to all Villagers……………
A cherry tart, an oxymoron…cute GR
Hi Mindy…and John too
Might have to try making that red bean soup this weekend…FOOD!!!
Been taking multivitamins, seems my appetite has been increasing, which is good, as I am underweight, and my appt next week with my Doctor….well she’s been on me to gain. You know it’s just as hard to gain as it is to loose weight. You see all these books and ads to loose weight, but never any to gain.
AND another thing, why do they charge extra on life insurance policies for smokers, but not for obesity? Just curious. (Hope I didn’t open a can of worms there.)
Loved your cat story Mary in Ohio.
Ya’ll have a blessed day……………
=^..^=
Mindy on 14 Feb 2013 at 7:13 am #
Good morning, Debbe! [From John also; Ginger's feelings are hurt because you didn't include ((gender specific pronoun deleted)) too! ((Gender specific pronoun)) will get over it, don't worry!] For appetite increase, I’ve read that Fish Oil caps and B12 will stimulate that. I would say that B12 also stimulates the libido but, if I did, Ghost and a few others I won’t name would rush out and spend a fortune. You’re right, the books all deal with losing weight, nothing about gaining. You see? “FOOD!!!” took us away from tarts and such but somehow just the faintest touch of…FOOD!!!
Dale in Boston on 14 Feb 2013 at 8:09 am #
There are a few comics (like “Red Meat”) where the lack of change in the art between the frames is part of the joke.