Now, don’t be offended. You know I’m not talking about you, but this old cartoon from five years ago is an example of the problems I sometimes cause for myself. Arlo’s words in the last panel, “I figure grape jelly/wine…,” makes the joke very subtle. The reader must fill in a blank. I know—I certainly hope—that many readers would have no problem doing this, but looking back I know a lot of readers probably were left thinking “I don’t get it.” This could have been avoided by having Arlo say, “I figure grape jelly/wine, what’s the difference?” I have had to learn over the years that a cartoonist can’t be too obvious.
413 responses to “A Touch of Glass”
Debbe 😉 Real Jersey Girls on real Jersey beaches, as I recall. And I don’t recall Bob Seger ever recording a bad song.
Lily, as I also recall, there was a cartoon in which Janis did a pastoral dance, wearing something very filmy and very revealing. Guess what I’m thinking right now. 😉
Ghost, I wore running shorts and a tank. Not very erotic
Ghost, so true about Seger. The good memories that music brings back sorta makes up for all the bad memories that we have shared. Sharing DOES help the hurt…
David in Austin, I am so impressed that you can remember what you saw when only two years old. My memories don’t begin until I was four; maybe a little earlier.
Glad you can remember those important things, that mean nothing to some people here (and yes, you know who you are. You need to study and learn about our vital history.)
Not erotic, Lily? You forget…I’m a guy. 😉
Gal, this is the one that moves me most.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keIvA2wSPZc&feature=kp
Once upon a time, not so long ago, I stumbled on an archive of the old, old Arlo and Janis cartoons, back to the very beginning before the Go Comics we have not. I did not realize I had found gold buried and forgotten. I just thought there were more than one set of archives, for each period.
I read them and laughed and enjoyed them but didn’t record any way to find them again.
The current archives begin in 1994 (I just read 1994 and 1995) Does anyone actually how to find and read/view the pre-1994 A & J cartoons?
Love, Jackie Monies
*shrug* I know a lot about our history, especially the Revolution and WWII. I just don’t consider the JFK thing important. Or interesting.
It is known as “the generation gap” I am afraid. But then, who of us knows the American Revolution?
It is like my feeling insulted to find out I was now classified as “Mid Century Modern” by antiques collections and “Period Drama” by t.v. critics. Who me? The What Me Worry Kid?
So I went and listened to some classic “Old Time Rock and Roll” by Seger and various artists and realized that this was actually my kids generation’s music. Well, I guess I was still rocking?
Love, Jackie Monies
The JFK assassination was the first major event in American history that many of those baby boomers experienced. A few short years later, the first American landed on the moon; that was important for the same reason.
Many of us were also dissatisfied with the official results of the Warren Report. We were fascinated by the apparent conspiracies as well as the apparent similarities between the JFK assassination and President Lincoln’s.
For many people, history begins with their own lives. Thanks to movies and television, many of us are also fascinated by early 20th century events.
From time to time I see various test on the Internet to find out whether I know as much about American history or our system of government as the modern college student. I always know more, and I’m just a former trucker.
Some think that had Kennedy not been assassinated, nothing like the Vietnam buildup would have occurred. That would have had some measure of importance attached to it.
I don’t remember ever seeing this cartoon. And yet, it somehow seems so familiar.
http://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/1998/09/09#.U4065PldWa8
Oh, wait. Now, I remember…junior year of high school…blonde student teacher…her name was Dixie…
So Ghost, did you read the NEXT day’s strip? The one about the moon landing?
Love, Jackie Monies
My daughter challenged me to tell her where I was when Regan was shot? I replied that by then there had been so many that the sensation and memory was dulled.
Yet she told me exactly where she was at the allergist and her dad had taught her to tie her own shoes while they waited.
Love, Jackie Monies
Jackie, i didn’t find an archive for 1985, but look at this photo of Jimmy in 1985: http://www.dograt.com/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/JimmyJohnson_ArloJanis.jpg
Yes, Jackie, I did read that one, too. Life is odd. So can be perspective.
I was in Delchamps when Ronnie forgot to duck. I have very clear memories from before I could walk. It’s 5 minutes ago that gives me a problem.
So, I do remember the Reagan assassination attempt. I was in elementary school (I think) and home sick that day. Watched all curled up on the sofa as they played the newsreel repeatedly.
As long as we’re talking about these things, another big one that hit during my very impressionable youth was John Lennon being killed. I was only marginally aware of the Beatles before that, but for me his death touched off a huge obsession with them that lasted many years. There are worse obsessions to have, that’s for sure. And my parents didn’t mind me blasting that Beatles music throughout my teenage years. Some of my other music they were not so fond of. 😉
Good morning Villagers….
Ah, the turbulent 60’s and early70’s…..”tin soldiers and Nixon coming”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_Power_%28photograph%29
Then there was the Chicago Seven……
Got lunches to prepare…..
ya’ll have a blessed day
Real quick here…as I sit here eating my P&J…
I saved two Time Mags….one with Nancy Reagan on the front at President Reagan’s funeral, and the other with George Harrison on it on his untimely death….both are keepers.
Don’t forget the two space shuttle explosions.
Well, make that the two space shuttle disasters. Either way, they were horrific.
Good morning, Villagers.
Ghost, my dad, no Oliver Stone fan, he, says that stuff about JFK not building the Vietnam forces up is based on one memo and who cares, anyway? He joined the Navy out of college, served as a medic all during the Vietnam thing, and really has pretty good memories of it. Of course, he never got outside of Hanoi or Da Nang, so he might have been less happy dodging punji sticks.
Lillyblack: Some of our people here in the Village served in Vietnam. And they have some not-so-good memories. No, we cannot go back and change the past. Neither can we second guess history. But those guys and gals who suffered on the front lines… who saw their friends blown to bits… who came back with nightmares… yeah – they care. And I care for them.
Lily, if you father had been in Hanoi during the war, I doubt his memories of it would have been anything like “good”.