It started over a week ago, with a few days off in Little River Canyon. The Little River in the northeast corner of Alabama is unusual, because it’s one of the few rivers anywhere that runs most of its entire course on top of a mountain ridge, in this specific case, Lookout Mountain. In the process of doing so, the river has cut one of America’s deepest gorges east of the Mississippi River. Google it if you’re interested. Anyway, I was in a rented cabin without so much as a cell-phone signal. Sure, I could have dragged myself out of my ravine and found a signal, but I was taking a few days off. Then, immediately upon my return, real life struck back with a vengeance, and that consumed a few more days, but here I am.
I’ve written here a lot about the ideal comic strip being a marriage of drawing and writing, and it is true. However, in the early going most of Arlo & Janis leaned heavily on the writing, for that is what I was trained to do. The above Sunday comic from 1994 is an illustration of that. It makes a pithy and, I think, worthwhile observation, but it is simply dialog. Written down, without cartoons, it could be understood. As spoken word it could be understood. Just because it was given to Arlo to deliver the lines doesn’t make this a bad comic strip, but a comic artist shouldn’t rely on this sort of thing every day. Keep in mind, by the way, that when this was drawn, I was referring to Phil Donahue and Geraldo Rivera. Most Americans had not yet heard of Jerry Springer and his imitators. Sometimes, I truly despair.
64 responses to “Talk is Cheap”
Ghost: It’s called a paronychia. We drain them all the time and The Boss Of My Life never even puts them on antibiotics. Says once they are drained, they will be fine. Plus I know she wouldn’t put anybody on clindamycin since necrotizing enterocolitis is much more to be feared than a booboo on the finger. *shrugs* she is a surgeon, what can I say?
GR6, be more selective in your future fingerings.
Hope your finger’s stopped hurting by the time you read this, Ghost.
Rosh Hashonah is Thursday and Friday, the day after I have my bladder stone removed. L’shana Tova, everybody, in case I forget.
sideburns, never heard of having a bladder stone removed for Rosh Hannah. Sounds highly unorthodox. 😉
Gal & Ruth Anne: Still not sure how that would work, but I’ll take your words for it. Without delving into details, did any of The Unmasked look the way you had them pictured?
L’shana Tova, sideburns. Perhaps you will feel like sounding the shofar when the stone is gone. 🙂
How well would Jimmy do blindfolded? http://www.demilked.com/1940s-comic-strip-artists-blindfolded-drawings-life-magazine/
Woo….hoo…..good afternoon Villagers….
Jimmy, I was getting very concerned about you, glad you had some “down time”….you deserve it. And thank you for this blog….it’s very therapeutic…
This “spent hen” is tired, Lily…..manana…..
GR 😉 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqRi_hC2qWI
=^..^=
Heh, I knew it! Have a nice sleep, Debbe 😀
I dunno, Munchkin. I had a paronychia (a classic “run around”) on the “social” finger of my right hand 10 or 12 years ago; a week of Cipro cleared it up without intervention. This one looked (and felt) MUCH worse. But, whatever works. And I know what you mean…surgeons gotta surge.
And yeah, like “Spent Hen” could have been anyone else. 🙂
Oh boy, the Village is up and running again! It’s so good to find people checking in with their latest news. Yes, it was interesting when some of us were “unmasked”. Shall I reveal the Facebook group that some of us found a refuge in while we couldn’t use this site? It’s “Arlo and Janis Fans” and keep this in mind, if this problem happens again, we can communicate there, just like here, only with our real names; and pretty faces too!
For those of you who don’t want to use Facebook, it’s really easy to get on the site; I don’t remember now, it’s been so long; can be aggravating to learn all the ways of doing things, but you guys are so computer-savvy, you can figure it out. I like it for the photographs that family and friends put on: graduations, kids leaving for college, school sports, trips to the beach, family pets — all fun to see. Often photos decades old are posted too, babies and little children, now grown. If there’s uninteresting stuff posted you can delete it.
Good to see Lilyblack, and Debbe, and Ghost — you turned that awful infection into an entertaining and half-humorous story, good for you. May you keep on feeling better. You too, Steve in Royal Oak — what a terrible experience! Thank my good luck, I have NEVER been that sick. May you recover fast.
Where is Jackie Monies? Gone down with the ship — I hope NOT!!
Mine stopped at 314, but another blogger told me he got 318. At least that proves I didn’t break it. There’s no ‘Next’ at the top of this page to check. Maybe if I go to Archives . . ..
Peace, emb
Still stops at 314. Maybe s/he just hit 8 by mistake.
Obviously my next stop was today’s MPR news. I wonder what German word translates as ‘imposter’ in photo # 5. I’d call the two jumpers acrobats or some such.
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/09/22/photos-oktoberfest
Ghost: Hugs…
Ghost: I’d rather have a five minute procedure than take a week’s worth of life-endangering and expensive drugs. As The Boss Of My Life is fond of saying, “I prefer surgery because it separates the patient from the disease.” 😛
emb, I recall playing that song in 1964 on the jukebox at the local drive-in. Today I work with people who have a recall span less than half that long. Makes metaphors challenging.
I hope that doesn’t mean she’d have separated me from my left index finger, Lily. 🙂
Nope, but she would have drained the pus that was troubling your index finger. You might be missing a little cuticle, cause that is what caused the problem in the first place 😛
I know. That’s what I had done. It’s better, but it’s far from being well. In fact, it’s getting downright annoying. 🙂
GR6, buy a bottle of rye whiskey. Pour a shot. Soak finger in the shot. Remove finger, drink shot. Repeat until pain is gone.
I was gonna suggest soak it in water as hot as you can stand it with Ivory or Dreft, but sand’s solution works for me, too 😀
I’d rather apply isopropyl alcohol and Maker’s Mark, in the proper order. That also has the advantage of me already having both on hand.
Debbe 😉 Thanks for taking me back to The Heart of the Night, hon. That one pulled some nostalgia strings. I noticed another oldie but goodie on that YouTube page. I believe I may have enjoyed a few dances (and a few beers) to this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9sbA2gnWHI
Nono, isopropyl alcohol is bad, bad. It kills living cells and stings. If you have to use something in a bottle, use hydrogen peroxide