Top Ten Comics from Sunday Denver Post: North to Alaska

Greetings to our blog readers in Australia, Hungary and Russia.....

This week, we slightly depart with our survey of comic strips from the Sunday edition of "The Washington Post" with a look at our top ten favorite comic strips from "The Denver Post" (May 3rd edition).

The newspaper is one of the few which carries Chris Carpenter's great strip "Tundra," set in his native Alaska, which this week featured a gag about a guy who is on the low end of a totem pole. "Closer to Home" by John McPherson featured a TSA agent who decides to use an air passenger's spray deodorant.  "Sherman's Lagoon" features a squabble between married sharks about what to watch on. In Jim Toomey's last strip panel, the reader wants the male shark to change people, which made us think he just might be watching something like "Swamp People."

Here is our top ten from "The Denver Post:"

1. Tundra

2. Close to Home

3. Sherman's Lagoon

4. Bound and Gagged

5. Baldo

6. Pearls Before Swine

7. Rhymes with Orange

8. Jump Start

9. Dilbert

10. Frazz

http://www.denverpost.com/comics

Top Ten Comic Strips from the Sunday Washington Post: The Argyle Seater Takes Gold in the Luge

Greetings to our blog readers in Australia, Azerbaijan and Thailand.

Welcome to another edition of where we rank comic strips from the Sunday newspapers.

Many newspapers had winter themes this year, including brilliant, cutting edge strips like "The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee," and legacy strips, such as "Hi and Lois" (neither of these strips runs in the Sunday "Washington Post"). And, though we haven't seen today's "Tundra," we imagine that Chad Carpenter's strip, which always takes place in his native Alaska, has snow in it as well.

But, our top strip of the week "The Argyle Sweater" imagines a birthday party with folks from the Marvel Universe, including "The Silver Surfer" (pictured top). We imagine the strip's artist Scott Hillburn found a way to get around cumbersome copyright laws.

But, our second-ranked strip of the week "Brewstir Rockit" a science fiction themed strip, took a huge leap out of its creative box resulting in a hilarious strip with the Frosty the Snowman's (pictured middle) wife.

And, our bronze medal goes to "Lio," a silent strip with no dialogue (Buster Keaton would be pleased) featuring Yeti, or the Bigfoot of Nepal.

Fourth place goes to "Sherman's Lagoon," where Sherman the shark, the strip's title character goes into a funk. As always, Jim Toomey's strip is a far cry from the sharks we grew up with on "Jaws."

While researching this entry, last week, we found out that "WUMO," a strip that features Pac Man today was actually an import from Denmark! "WUMO," last week's champion, comes in seventh this week as there were many great strips.

Here is the list from the Sunday "Washington Post:"

1) The Argyle Sweater

2) Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

3) Lio

4) Sherman's Lagoon

5) Dustin

6) Pearls Before Swine

7) WUMO

8) Reply All

9) Knight Life

10) Judge Parker (love that snake in the final panel, this strip is also in "The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, WVa, which has 'a slightly lower' circulation than "The Washington Post," but perhaps Amazon kingpin Jeff Bezos can buy them too!).


http://www.hearld-dispatch.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com

http://www.theargylesweater.com

http://www.edisonlee.com

http://www.gocomics.com/lio

http://www.shermanslagoon.com

Image to Feel Space- Burn Out Notice

Yes, in case you haven't noticed, we are a bit far behind. But, we are fully aware that folks from Anchorage, Alaska, to Sofia, Bulgaria, to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, rely solely on this blog as their manin source for everything that is going on in the world, so we fully intend to 'get back to work.'

Among the items, we are working on: 1) The last ten films we've seen which will likely now not include the film version of Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" (1968) 2) A virtual postcard from Colorado 3) A now-dated update on the passage of the controversial Amendment One measure which will effectively stop gay marriage in the legal sense and 4) An even-more dated entry congratulating the University of Alabama for winning a national championship in women's collegiate gymnastics, late last month.

SIDEBAR: Though we have yet to see "The Avengers," which has apparently broken all box office records in Nigeria (that is a joke, though it might be true), we loved this tweet from "The New Yorker:"

'(Our film critic) Anthony Lane said watching 'The Avengers' felt like being mugged by a gang of rowdy sociopaths.'

Image of the Day/Week- Ice Cream Cone

Spring is underway, and now it seems like the season, especially with global warming (forgive the political humor), to appreciate a nice ice cream cone, unless you live in Fairbanks, Alaska.

We were going to mention Giffords Ice Cream in Bethesda, Md., which had a reputation for being one of the Washington, DC-area's best independent ice cream shops, but they were purchased last year by the Maine-based Giffords Ice Cream, which lead to this headline in "City Paper" (Washington)  from Oct. 25, 2011, which sounds like an April Fool's Joke or a story in the satirical publication "The Onion:" 'Gifford's Ice Cream Is Now Called Gifford's Ice Cream.'

But, we did find an actual non-corporate ice cream place in Boulder, Colo., in the Table Mesa part of town called the Boulder Ice Cream Shoppe. However, we presume it may be easy to mistake it for Boulder Ice Cream, an organic ice cream company which says on its web site that it makes its produce from the milk of Rocky Mountain cows.

SIDEBAR: Speaking of ice cream, we loved this headline's in today's online edition of "Politico," a daily Washington, DC-based newspaper/web page dedicated only to politics: 'Rob Portman: Vice President Vanilla.'

This is in reference to the possibility that Mitt Romney will choose Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) for his vice-presidential nomination given that votes in places like Dayton, Toledo and Akron will matter significantly more than ones in Provo, Utah, or Princeton, NJ, two college-towns which will assuredly go to the respective candidates (the other, of course, being President Barack Obama) who are almost certain to carry Utah and New Jersey respectively.

Portman is liked by moderate Republicans and intellectual conservatives, such as commentator David Brooks of "The New York Times," but fervent right-wingers, birthers and tea partiers, seem to be carrying the mantra of far right Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, who is tauting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

Silly Picture to Fill Space- A Costa Rican Frog

Yes, since Costa Rica is one of my top countries to seek political asylum in should Mitt Romney become president of the United States, and today is Leap Day, I thought a photo of a Costa Rican frog was in order.

When I went on a cruise to The Bahamas last month, our version of "The Love Boat" captain told us when the sun would set each day.

So, with that it mind and given that the sun has already set in places like Eskisehir, Turkey, as of this posting (it is 1:00 p.m. on the U.S East coast, so I presume it is either 19:00 or 20:00 in Turkey), I will include sunset times for various American cities, some are suburbs while others are college towns, and we have included both Fairfax, Va., and Fairbanks, Alaska, to be cheeky.

Sorry to our Canadian followers, we are snubbing you today, but we hope to post the sunset for Calgary, Alberta, one day real soon.

Here are the sunset times for the following eight American towns, cities and 'burbs (all times are local times); the earliest sunset is for the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Ill., and the latest, as one might expect, is for Honolulu, Hawaii:

Fairfax, Va. 6:01 p.m.

Akron, Ohio 6:16 p.m.

Skokie, Ill. 5:40 p.m.

Boulder, Colo. 5:52 p.m.

Tempe, Ariz. 6:24 p.m.

Palo Alto, Calif. 6:02 p.m.

Fairbanks, Alaska 6:06 p.m.

Honolulu, Hawaii 6:35 p.m.

Road Trip USA (1 of 20)- Take the Long Way Home

Today, we start our first of many outings right here from the comfort of our desk in the hamlet of Toms Brook, Va. (a real place, but not where we really are at the moment), with a look at just how long it would take a driver to get from the Coffee Plantation in Key West, Fla., to Mayor Douglas Issacson's office at the North Pole, Alaska, City Pole.

A good deal of the trek would actually go through western Canadian cities like Winnipeg and Edmonton, and assuredly, it would take a very, very long time.

So, we are giving you a chance to guess just how long it would take if you drove directly without taking photographs of horses as you drove through Kentucky.

The answer is either:

a) 87 hours and 25 minutes
b) 85 hours and 20 minutes
c) 83 hours and 15 minutes
d) 81 hours and 50 minutes

While researching this entry, we found out that Jimmy Buffett (don't forget the second 't') who is the famous resident of Key West will be performing in Raleigh on April 19 and in Charlotte on April 21.

SIDEBAR: Speaking of road trips, the Roanoke, Va., carpooling group Ride Solutions is sponsoring a screening of the 1986 good/bad movie "Maximum Overdrive" that was based on something Stephen King wrote. In the film, which was among the first major studio films to be shot in Wilmington, NC, Emilio Estevez battles an 18-wheeler that comes to life because of a comet. The film will be shown at The Shadowbox Cinema in Roanoke on Feb. 21 at 8:00 p.m. Admission is five dollars.

The Top 10-Christmas Wish List (Gag Gifts Edition)

I was joking with my cousin Bradley West who has just finished a year-long ice-fishing expedition in the North Pole where he developed a tragic alcholic dependency porblem, and he was wondering: "Attila, my dear cousin, blood brother and comrade, what the heck da ya want fer Christmas?" They then gave a sob story about how cold and lonely it is up there (this is a joke, of course as I don't know a single person who has been to the North Pole or North Pole, Ak., for that matter! Oh, and I don't have cousins named Bradley).

But, there are always people who want to know these things, so I have developed two separate lists: one for potential gag lists and one for actual gifts that I would love to have. There is, of course, a thin line between the two.

So, here are my top ten gag gift ideas:

1. The Bert and Ernie: Don't Ask, Don't Tell t-shirt ($18). We saw this advertised in "Rolling Stone." It's available from tshirtsthatsuck.com
Yes, I'm not sure if it will go over well in Martinsville, Va., or Kingsport, Tenn., either!

2. Marijuana Leaf Neckties- Well, we obviously could NEVER wear it to work (definitely not for a job interview) but an assortment of these 'products' are available from web sites like zazzle.com for between $5-31.

3. Brady Bunch Lunchbox- Well, we obviously could NEVER bring this to work, but that would be to save one's self from persistent ridicule throughout the work day. These were actually made in the '70s and prices on the net range from $20-45.

4. Mr. Potato Head- Yikes! The 2010 Toy Story 3 edition of Mr. Potato Head retails for $38 at places like Target. But, we did learn while researching this entry (yes, we did actually do that!) that Mr. Potato Head, which was first made in 1952, lost the pipe in 1986 as to not encourage kids to smoke.

5. Swedish Pop CDs_ Abba, Roxette, Robyn, Ace of Base and/or The Cardigans (they were on the original "Beverly Hills 90210" soundtrack) would be a great gag gift for those of who prefer the vastly superior Norwegian pop (ok, I can't think of any Norwegian bands besides A-ha either). We found out just today that Abba is performing in Istanbul, Turkey- of all places, on Dec. 13.

6. "Gulliver's Travels" (paperback edition; $5-14). Since I wrote a book report on this classic by Jonathan Swift 21 years ago, this gift would indeed be quite ironic and inexpensive. But, I probably won't get around to reading it!

7. "Chico and the Man" DVD Set- Can you imagine the look on someone's face if you actually get them all 88 episodes of the hit '70s sitcom (it ran from 1974-1978)? We were stunned to find out that the show continued after its star Freddie Prinze (father of Freddie Prinze Jr.) committed suicide by gunshot at age 22 in 1977. The things you learn from blogging are something else, aren't they!

8. Che Guevara Little Thinker Plush Toy ($15) and Jesus Christ Bobblehead ($10)_ Yes, for a mere $25, you can show a family member that you have a very surreal sense of humor. This would be perfect for an off-the-wall cousin of mine who lives somewhere in rural Missouri who has made sure that there is no possible way I can be the black sheep of the family even though I would be the black sheep of 99 percent of all American/Canadian families.

9. "Conscience of a Conservative" by Barry Goldwater (Sr.)_ If you really want me to look at you as if I was a character in a vintage Tex Avery cartoon (he was the one who came up with the idea of sockets popping out though we need to ask our Honduran intern Javier to verify that), you can get me this 1960 booklet that is 84 pages long (I am a partisan Democrat).

10. Another subscription to a 'get connected' web site_ Judging from their ads, you would think sites like E-Harmony, Ok Cupid, Match.com, Plentyoffish.com, Connectsingles.com and lavalife.com could actually connect with a woman who likes Anne Hathaway who happens to think the fact that you have every issue of "Hot Stuff" and "Daredevil" is so cool. Think again! (I speak from experience....)

High School of the Week- Glenvar High School (Salem, Va)

Today, as a farewell to the High School of the Week series, I am profiling Glenvar High School in Salem, Va., which is my own alma mater!

We are also profiling Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, DC, since we realize that by mentioning high schools from all 50 states, we snubbed our very own nation's capital!

The actual school I mentioned the first time around for Virginia was William Byrd High School in Vinton, which like Glenvar is a Roanoke County school.

As for Woodrow Wilson High School, their famous alumni include Warren Buffet and former Washington DC mayor Adrian Fenty (just lost reelection in November; he graduated in 1988 the same year as me!).

But, for Glenvar High School, aka Highlander High, which had 637 students in 2009, well there aren't many famous alumni. In fact, I was probably the first person of Middle Eastern heritage to graduate until my little sister did in 1992. I suspect no other Turkish-Americans or Arab-Americans have joined us which is certainly not the case at Woodrow Wilson HS which has students from 85 different countries!

However, there is Rick Huddle, a story-teller/entertainer in Portland, Ore., who graduated from GHS in 1987. In fact, we were on the same soccer team in which Rick actually got to play while I sat on the misreable bench.

Huddle has been acclaimed by "The Oregonian" for his 'rubbery face and expressive body language.' And, on his web site rickhuddle.com, the entertainer has this quip from author Marc Acito: "Rick Huddle is the Hoover vacuum of storytellers- he just sucks you right in."

As for my school, the current GHS principal is Joe Hafey. The Wikipedia page for GHS cites Coach Dickie Myers, who taught me earth science in the ninth grade, for his 30 years of teaching and coaching. Among the sports that Myers coached were wrestling, cross country and track.

As for more recent alumni, I heard that Evan DeHart has returned home from a tour of duty (in presumably Afghanistan) with the Marines. We are glad he is back, even if Salem, Va., is only just slightly more hip and happening than Kandahar province. Well, we do have a Starbucks now, oh, I forgot---there are two of them in fact!

SIDEBAR: NPR tweeted today that the community of Hacker Valley, WVa, zip code 2622, is reeling from the loss of their post office as the next closest one is in the town of Diana, which makes for a 40-minute round trip!

SIDEBAR TWO: As I was driving past the Greyhound bus station in Burlington, NC, a few weeks ago, I thought about what would be the longest continental bu strip one could take from there. And, we found out that if the city's mayor Ronnie K. Hall wanted to visit his counterpart Doug Issacson of North Pole, Alaska (whom we profiled a long time ago), it would take 74 hours and four minutes for a total of 4,326.22 miles. Much of the trip would go through western Canada, including Saskatoon and Edmonton. The same trek is a mere 72 hours and 30 minutes from my hometown of Salem, Va.

SIDEBAR THREE: The main Twitter trending words today are Roll Tide, Thanksgiving Dinner, Gobble Gobble, Friday Shopping, Wal-Mart and Leftovers. We hope the mere mention of these words inflates our hit total for today!

Things We Learned from Twitter Today- Alaska Senator May Get Teabagged

Since this blog is known to be as objective as Fox New, Radio Havannah, "The National Review" and "Mother Jones," we should openly state that we think the Tea Bag movement is pretty much a rabid right-wing exercise in banality, or it is essentially a hippie movement in reverse.

Nevertheless, these delusional maniacs have made a considerable political impact on the American landscape (but then again so did Che Guevarra in Latin America).

Yesterday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) got a taste of this as she is now losing to Tea Party right-wing radical Joe Miller by about 2,500 votes according to a tweet from WashDCNews, which lead to a CNN article about the Alaska Republican primary, which was held yesterday.

Miller, who was backed by the demonic diva Sarah Palin, is winning the race with about 84 percent of the votes in Alaska accounted for. Murkowski is like 'the old John McCain' of the Senate as she has voted against the GOP 30 percent of the time. Interestinly enough, McCain beat the right-wing pit bull he was facing yesterday.

The winner will face Democrat Scott McAdams, who is the mayor of Sitka. Alas, for him, Alaska is about as progressive as Qom, Iran.

Speaking of Iran, the prime minister of their main nemesis Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu is an alumnus of Cheltenham High School in Philadelphia (actually in the 'burb of Wyncote, Pa.) as is former New York Yankees great Reggie Jackson.

Cheltenham is our "High School of the Week" along with schools from Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The school nickname is The Panthers. Abington Senior High School are their rivals. And, Dr. Elliot Lewis is the principal.