We skip all the way to 1993 today, while sticking with the “young Gene” theme. Already he is maturing. He is old enough to ponder the sweet mysteries of life with his friends and to be a wildcat of a wrestling opponent for his old man. And he has yet another haircut. I was never fond of this haircut. For some reason, more than the others, it made his head look like some kind of elongated gourd.
Knowledge of the Ages
By Jimmy Johnson
Recent Posts
Ghost of Christmas Past
This holiday Arlo & Janis comic strip from 2022 is similar in concept to the new strip that ran yesterday. I thought the latter ...
Spearhead
I have produced a number of comic strips related to Veteran’s Day. Especially in latter years, I have tried to emphasize the universal experience ...
Dark Passage
Remember: it’s that weekend. The return to standard time can be a bit of a shock in the late afternoon, but I rather enjoy ...
What’s old is old, again
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to build a web site, but there are similarities. Everything needs to be just right, or ...
Back to the ol’ drawing board
I don’t have a lot of time this morning. I wasn’t going to post anything, but I’m tired of looking at that old photograph ...
Thursday’s Child
On Sunday, I teased you with the suggestion there are more changes coming here. There are. They will appear soon, and I think you’ll ...
78 responses to “Knowledge of the Ages”
I never liked any of Little Gene’s haircuts. Aren’t you glad you didn’t keep him a perpetual kid like some cartoonists did?
Yucko!
We said goodbye to black rectangles and hello to voice activated devices. Life now is like talking to cats or children, no certainty they are listening, nor how they may respond.
Hey, sand. Wie geht’s?
Mir geht sind gut, mein Zaun jedoch nicht.
What a great analogy Sand! Like!
In cooking eggplant burst tomato pasta sauce. Grew the eggplants and cherry tomatoes. Better be good. It has onion, garlic, olive oil, white wine. You add fresh parsley, basil and parmesan cheese at the end.
I cook a lot like Arlo, a growing sauce. Ghost gets to adjust seasonings.
Re 10-22-20 real-time cartoon: Yeah, I just wasted 3 minutes of my life searching for the black iPhone that was laying on my black portfolio in a dimly lighted room.
Donde esta la villega?
It’s that kind of Spanish that always got me and Peggy Hill in trouble.
“…elongated gourd…”
Not in my view. To me, it looks like the flight deck of a Chinese aircraft carrier.
Here’s a side of Fred Rogers I wish more of us had known about:
https://www.deseret.com/entertainment/2020/10/21/21189417/mister-rogers-neighborhood-fred-letters-viewer-mail-correspondence-archive-religion-education-where
Ron, this is a truly beautiful article. It’s just so rich and well-thought-out, attributes that are increasingly rare in today’s “2 minute rea” world. Thank you so much for sharing it!
TruckerRon: Now you watch: this is going to post two or three times. 🙂 BUT I still want to thank you for posting that link to the article about Fred Rogers and the letters he wrote. It was extremely well-written and rich, and that’s increasingly rare in our “1-minute read” world. An insightful and sometimes moving read.
Gene looking like “an elongated gourd”–that’s the Harry Haenigsen look! He drew, among other things, a popular strip called “Penny.” Messrs. Haenigsen and Johnson are the only two I know who have employed that consistently–though with Jimmy here it has really faded quite a lot. Haenigsen by no means always used it, either; but he used it quite a lot. With little Gene here, it looks like it is to fit in both shadow behind the ears and fluff at the back.
Arlo and Janis was and is always about the relationships. I didn’t care how they were drawn, but boy did they ever hit home. Like yesterday’s black rectangles. We took to putting stickers on the otterboxes so that we knew who’s phone was which. And who could ever forget the phone ringing one. Arlo and Janis are not sure if it’s the TV, the microwave, the dishwasher and end the strip with “Hi we’re Arlo and Janis and we’re too dumb to come to the phone right now”!
I’m with you, Steve. Relationship is the sweet spot for Arlo & Janis: relationships to each other first and foremost, and then to coworkers (well, in the past), people at parties (where Arlo almost always seems to get into heated exchanges about politics), and even with their house, furniture, and plants. And I always, always feel like “yep, that’s exactly how that goes!” And I am also loving that we’re getting so many “oldies” in a row right now! Thanks, Mr. Johnson!! 🙂
In today’s cartoon, I am surprised no one at all picked up on Arlo’s statement as being a take off of the title of a Jack London novel, “The Call of the Wild” which came out in 1903. Most seemed to see a reference to Julia Child instead, but I never heard of her name used thus.
.
New refrigerator arrived about 8:45 this morning. The old one had a faulty thermostat, so we were told, with no new ones/parts available any longer. Of course, once we paid for a new fridge, the old one merrily cooled away, making REALLY solid ice cubes at between -5F and -12F. The regular cooling went well, too. But, “alea iacta est”, as is said, and we went through with the purchase.
.
Agreed, the shape of Gene’s noggin in these early examples leaves something to be desired. In the same tone, some cartoonists will, in a face-on view or a from-the-back view, show the hair atop a head with a broad V-shape. That is, with a low place at the top of the skull and hair piled up higher on both sides. I find that unrealistic hair shape exceptionally ugly and quit reading one strip because of its prevalence therein. Thankfully, JJ has done this only rarely.
Cooking red beans and rice. Cajun cool weather food. I love it. In 1967 we moved from Lafayette to New Orleans i learned to make red beans from our porter at Hibernia Bank on St. Charles Avenue. He must have been at least 80!
We’d give him money and he’d get his ingredients on his banking trips, cook all morning for lunch
COVID has demolished another cherished tradition in my county. From my orchestra’s president:
.
“I am sad to inform you that our Christmas Concert has been canceled by Salem City due to increased COVID restrictions. So enjoy your holidays and hopefully we can start again in January.”
.
Normally that occurs as part of the Salem Pond Lighting Ceremony each year on Black Friday. Various singing and dancing groups normally perform while the crowd sips hot chocolate and eats donuts provided by the city. Santa arrives on a city fire truck to turn on the lights, then everyone comes up to the Civic Center for our little concert.
Re 10-23-20 real-time cartoon: I understand, Arlo. In the past, I often heard the call of Giada.
My wife & I follow the strip. We are of a certain age where there is a certain life experiences that flow in the same direction as well as everybody else. Arlo whipping out the pot for stew , braising, roast or whatever & giving up(not really) on the charcoal grill for season my direction. Chicken braised in wine & viniger
Welcome oug Baird.
.
Went to HS with an Al Baird in NJ.
.
Sounds like you will fit right in.
Don’t know why it left my name off
Oldbear — auto correct wants me to be Older {^!^}
Curmudgeonly ex-professor the “Call of the Child” is just that, a blending of “Call of the Wild” novel title and Julia Child the cooking guru.
See Arlo’s hypnotized glazed eyes being pulled to the kitchen? I thought it clever of Jimmy and easily understood. But it would require BOTH pieces of knowledge.
Maybe more than the Dark Side has?
What do you cook for cool/cold weather? I love beans, soups, stews, gumbos, pot pies.
Ghost keeps saying cook things with five ingredients in a crock pot. He does most of kitchen cleaning although I clean as I cook.
My late MIL simply left everything exactly where it ended up while cooking. Her dirty kitchen looked like a riot had just occurred with empty cans, vegetable peelings, spoons, pots, measuring cups, bowls strewn over every surface.
I went to the India Palace here in Tulsa for the lunch buffet yesterday. Great stuff for cold weather. Sort of a vegetable stew with curry, spinach with a sort of farmer’s cheese cooked in, baked chicken with a tomato-butter sauce. Very tasty and not too spicy.
Jackie. Thank you. Went right past me, even tho both are familiar terms. Peace
Jimmy does such clever headings. And dialogue. And I loved the hypnotic daze as he heads to kitchen.
Speaking of which, need to go check my red beans.
Yesterday, I was looking at Lodge cast iron cookware on Instagram (like I need more of it) and ran across some IG pages featuring cooking in same. Specifically making sage browned butter, and using it on roasted sweet potatoes, which I’ve never had. Also, it’s been a while since I made browned butter, which is a Maillard reaction (a cooking process which I recall Jimmy discussed here some years ago).
Yes, there does seem to something about fall (possibly the onset of cooler weather) that activates the cooking gene in those of us that have one.
I forgot to mention that Jackie has lots of sage growing in her kitchen garden.
I forgot to mention that Jackie has lots of sage growing in her kitchen garden.
A somewhat zaftig young lady came into the boutique earlier, asking after fishnet stockings. We (sadly) do not carry them, but that did remind me of an A&J cartoon from years ago. Actually, a lot of things in real life seem to remind me of A&J cartoons. Imagine that. 🙂
OK, I’m takin’ it personal this time, Mr. Software! ::rolling up my sleeves:: No doubt you’ll now post something like 14 replies out the two I’ve actually tried to send so far, both of which you are sitting on and acting all innocent about. But I’m still going to have my say. So: YO, TruckerRon! LOVE that piece in the link you posted about Fred Rogers. Thank you for sharing it! Rather than say more, I will sit here and glare with my best ex-professor giving a test scowl at the “post comment” button as I hit it . . . and try again.
And it got me again. LOL