20-Word Fiction: The Last Song on the Radio

Greetings to our blog readers in Argentina, Belgium and Canada.....

We actually listened to the song "Walk of Life," a hit single from Dire Straits from their album "Brothers in Arms" (1985) on Q-99.1-FM in Roanoke, Va., right before writing this piece. Our apologies to Mark Knopfler, the lead singer and guitarist of Dire Straits, though since we aren't using any lyrics from the song, we presume he can't sue us!:

"Nelson was listening to Dire Straits' song 'Walk of Life' when the train hit his car. His obit will run tomorrow."

Actually, this is 21 words, but this isn't "The New Yorker"!!!!

http://www.newyorker.com

GOP Debate Minus Trump Tweets (2 of 3)

We continue the multiple blog entries about last night's debate (it is now past 9:00 a.m. in Dubai) with tweets from various folks across the political spectrum in America (ok, most of these folks seem to have a liberal bias as I do), and perhaps even Canada...

 (pictured are 1) Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly; 2) a windmill in Elkhorn, Iowa; and 3) Ben Carson):

1) Patton Oswalt: How ya gonna deal with Putin? With shootin-ass-batin' and root-a-man-hootin

2) Dean Obeidallah (standup comic and activist of Muslim heritage): Please turn off Ben Carson's microphone.

3) Edward Luce: Ben Carson was totally wise to boycott this debate.

4) Carlos Lozada (Washington Post): Finally, the Estonia question.

5) PBS Newshour: Jumping from religion back to foreign policy.

6) Kai Ryssdal (NPR's Marketplace): Hahahahahahahahahaha. President Ben Carson. Man that cracks me up.

7) Karen Tumulty (Washington Post): Rand Paul is having a debate with Rand Paul about abortion.

8) E.J. Dionne (Washington Post): Marco Rubio like John Kasich talks about faith and obligation to the poor. Interesting how Rubio mixes this with appeal to evangelicals.

9) Alexandra Petri (Washington Post): Ohhhhhh........nothing like the sight of a stage full o' men talking about abortion.

(10 for 10; 7th Entry): Virtual Postcard from West Virginia

Greetings to our blog readers in Malaysia, Brazil, and Spain.....

Today, we continue our occasional tradition of virtual postcards with an image of the Hawks Nest State Park in West Virginia, located one hour east of the state capital Charleston. The park is a common destination during the autumn months.

For those of you who follow MLS soccer, we have just learned that Sebastian Giovinco scored two goals for Toronto FC in the team's 3-1 win over the Colorado Rapids.

http://www.hawksnestsp.com/

http://gotowv.com/

http://www.charlestonwv.com

http://www.torontofc.ca/

10 for 10 (5th Entry): Love Those Yorkies!

Greetings to our blog readers in Belgium, Canada, and Japan......

Tonight, we are desperately trying to catch up on our 10 for 10 series, and we now know you perhaps cartoonist Bill Griffith must feel if he has gotten behind on drawing his comic strip "Zippy the Pinhead." But, we imagine he is not a notorious procrastinator.

We are featuring an image of Yorkshire terrier, also known as yorkies.

You may not find a yorkie at your community animal shelter here in America, but you may just find a friend for life, so here are two animal local shelters we will provide links for:

https://www.coastalhumanesociety.org/ (Animal shelter in Brunswick, Maine)

http://www.hshponline.org/ (Animal shelter in Hays, Kansas)

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

Ten Things to Know: Culture Club is Coming to Washington DC

1) Syracuse Stage in Syracuse, NY, will be staging the play "Steve Martin's The Underpants," which depicts a young man who literally drops his drawers and is dealt with public humiliation. The play will be the troupe's season opener and it will run from Oct. 21-Nov. 8. Bill Fennelly directs.

2) The Both: A Rock duet consisting of veteran performers Ted Leo and Aimee Mann performs at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC, on May 5th.

3) "While We're Young," a comedy directed by Noah Baumbach and starring Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts opens at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., on May 2nd (there is a concert there on May 1st).

4) Pauline McKee, 90, was refused a $41.8 million jackpot for Miss Kitty at a casino in Iowa, according to the BBC.

5) Bayern Munich won its 25th German title; the team faces Barcelona FC with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

6) The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC, named the best bookstore in Raleigh/Durham by "Indy Weekly" will be one of many bookstores celebrating Independent Bookstore on May 2nd.

7) Culture Club will be performing at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Va., a Washington, DC-suburb on August 10th.

8) "The Toronto Star" is reporting that the Canadian province of Ontario will give $1 million to relief efforts for the devastating earthquake which struck Nepal this weekend.

9) According to What the F*** Facts, the top export in America is cars, the top import in America is also cars. You do tend to see lots of Kia, a South Korean car, on the roads these days.

10)  Today is the 39th birthday of British actress Sally Hawkins ("Blue Jasmine," pict. bottom)

http://syracusestage.org/

http://www.catscradle.com/

http://www.thelyric.com/

http://www.regulatorbookshop.com/

http://www.wolftrap.org

http://www.culture-club.co.uk/

Last Ten Songs We Listened to on Steve-FM (Roanoke, Va.): Thank You for NOT playing Aerosmith

Greetings to our readers in Canada, Malaysia and Azerbaijan.......


Here are the last ten songs we heard on Steve-FM (!06.1FM-Roanoke, Va.) from the hour of 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., local time, on Monday afternoon (Feb. 16th, 2015). Interestingly enough, the mixed genre radio station which plays a mixture of yesteryear songs along with new hits from the likes of Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars, only played one song from the 1990s, which was "Black or White" by the late Michael Jackson, which was released in 1991. Thankfully, none of these songs are from Aerosmith, a band we really love to hate:


1) Everybody Wants You. Billy Squier (pict. top) 1982.

2) Cruise. Florida Georgia Line. 2012

3) All I Need is a Miracle. Mike and the Mechanics. 1986/96

4) Don't Bring Me Down. ELO (pict. center) 1979.

5) Centerfold. The J. Geils Band (pict. bottom) 1981

6) Black or White. Michael Jackson. 1991

7) What I Like About You. The Romantics. 1980.

8) Sister Golden Hair. America. 1975

9) Cum on Feel the Noize. Quiet Riot. 1983.

10) Happy. Pharrell Williams. 2013.

http://www.1061stevefm.com/main.html

http://www.visitroanokeva.com/

http://www.billysquier.com/

Noon Rush Hour Tweets: No More Garden Yeti Statues

Greetings to our blog readers in Canada, Kuwait and Japan........

We took down some tweets from the noon hour on the east coast, which was three hours ago, but perhaps those of you joining us from San Jose, Calif., have time to read this on your lunch break. Did you get Chinese take-out? Just wondering.

Congrats to Ghana for its 1-0 win over Algeria at the Africa Cup of Nations in Guinea, the winning goal came from Asamoah Gyan in the 91st minute. Our favorite Turkish team (well, we like Galatasaray too) Bursaspor also won 3-2 at the last minute, as Brazilian international Fernando kicked in the game-winning goal over Konyaspor in the 92nd minute.

The images above are of 1) Big Ben Clock in London, which actually has a Twitter account; 2) A Garden Yehti statue; and 3) Hillary Clinton, who is the current favorite to win the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 2016.

Here are the tweets:

1) Big Ben: BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG

2) WDBJ Weather (tv station in Roanoke, Va.): Snow now falling across the Roanoke Valley and Salem area. We'll see a mix with sleet this afternoon.

3) NPR News: Goodbye, Garden Yeti....in-flight catalog SkyMall files for bankruptcy

4) Karia Pacheo: Legitimately more upset about SkyMall than any celebrity death I've about on Twitter.

5) Sean Lemon (Guitarist for Room 94):........... (hashtag MakeSexAwkwardin5Works): Can my friends watch please?

6) Chris Cillizza (aka The Fix, a Washington Post political columnist): I am taking August off! DNC says Dem convention will be held week of July 25, 2016, back-to-back with GOP convention (Yea, this is the reason why we have an image of Hillary)

7)  What the F*** Facts: None of the menu items on the McDonald's menu are certified vegan or vegetarian. Even French Fries, which use natural beef flavors.

8) The Guardian (UK newspaper): Laura Deas takes World Cup skeleton bronze in St. Moritz (Switzerland).

9) Felix Salmon: I wanted to cover a protest event, but, it's scheduled to last 3.5 hours. No one has that kind of time in Davos (Switzerland).

10) Nona WillisAronowitz (contributor to The Nation): Sorry, old white Republican dudes; tweeting like a teen won't make us vote for you. (Perhaps, she has Cong. Bob Goodlatte in mind........we always make fun of him on this blog)

11) DCist: Maryland once again tops list of most millionaires per capita.

http://www.washingtonpost.com

http://www.visitlondon.com

http://www.dcist.com

http://www.thenation.com

SOTU Tweets: Right, Left and the Fog Machine

Greetings to our blog readers in Canada, Scotland, Luxembourg and the city of Yozgat, Turkey, where it will be 4:00 a.m. when President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address; you Canadians are perhaps just as aware that the Edmonton Oilers will be across town in America's capital where they will play the Washington Capitals.

There are reasons why we have images of Cong. Bob Latta (R-Ohio, his district is around Toledo), Donny Osmond and Vice President Joe Biden, but let's go ahead and present some tweets from the early evening hours here in les etats unis:

1) Cong. Latta: I applaud RepFredUpton and SenJohnThune for developing a proposal to establist clear, reasonable rules for the Internet.

2) Mormon Democrats (yeah, they are the reason we chose Osmond though he is a Republican): The GOP forgets that GW Bush's resolve didn't stop Putin from invading another country, nor did it prevent North Korea from obtaining nukes.

3) The Onion (a satirical journal): Biden Arrives Early to Set Up State of the Union Fog Machine.

4) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont): The typical middle class American family made less last year than it did 25 years ago.

5) Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia): Not only did Lisa drive from Botetourt County to be my SOTU guest, she brought cookies form Mrs. Rowe's in Staunton! (I actually went to high school with Sen. Kaine's guest Lisa Shutters Barnett; Botetourt County is four hours south of Washington, DC)

6) Ken Rudin (NPR political analyst): "It's 4 p.m. on the day of the SOTU and that only means one thing: Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) is already sitting in the House chamber."

7) The Baltimore Sun: SOTU preview: Obama calls for increasing taxes on the wealthy, free community college and expanding paid leave."

8) Joy Ulfelder (political scientist): Save an hour of your life and read the SOTU instead of watching it tonight. Most boring theater ever.

9) Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Missouri): "RT if you agree every American deserves a chance to succeed.  Our top priority should be working together to create good paying jobs."

10) Martha MacCallum (Fox News host): "I will be hosting On the Record tonight_ see you soon!"

11) David Corn (liberal reporter): "Mitt Romney shifts his position on Climate Change_ Again!"

http://www.theonion.com

http://www.thehill.com

http://www.baltimoresun.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com

http://www.c-span.org

http://www.rollcall.com

New and Improved Top Ten American Cities We'd Like to Visit: From Miami to Vancouver

Since we returned back from Costa Rica on Black Friday, we've been thinking about where else would like to travel during our time here on earth, and if we die a premature death like Austrian pop star Falco, we hope we can come back to life as the Buddhistst suggest, so we can visit Detroit (actually a city which just missed making this life).

For this list, we are focusing on North American cities, and our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com we look at cities we would like to visit in Europe.

It should be pointed that cities we adore, like Denver, New York and Baltimore are not on this list because we wanted to focus on cities we've never visited.

And, without any further interruptions, here is the list:

1) Miami, Florida ("Miami Vice" is pictured top)

2) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (The logo for the Vancouver Canucks is pictured center)

2) Seattle, Washington (pictured bottom)

4) San Francisco, California

5) Portland, Oregon (but, we have been to Portland, Maine, this Portland is the one where "Portlandia" takes place)

6) Guadalajara, Mexico

7) Los Angeles, California

8) Minneapolis, Minnesota

9) Dallas, Texas

10, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

http://www.miamiandbeaches.com/

http://www.tourismvancouver.com/

http://www.visitseattle.org/Home.aspx

Last Ten Films I've Seen: Lots and Lots of Imports

Greetings as always to blog readers around the world, including those of you in Australia, Canada, and Germany.

This is our first entry since the catastrophic, seismic, Armageddon nightmare, mid-term elections, which saw the Republican gain more houses in the U.S. Congress and completely take over the U.S. Senate, but fortunately Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) did prevail over Ed Gillespie.

Even though we differ with his politics and his policies, we want to congratulate Cong. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va) who has represented Virginia's sixth district since 1993, and now, thanks to perfect gerrymandering, he probably will be representing the Sixth district until the year 2045 (correction: he turns 103 in 2055), when he will be circa 103 years old. Thus, we are using the image of Goodlatte (center) for the film "Dear White People" which is on this list. We are also looking for photos of Goodlatte in a bathing suit, but alas there are none to be found on Google.

Of the ten films we last watched, eight are from foreign countries, including Kazakhstan, Romania, Israel, the Netherlands, Japan, Turkey, Iran and Norway.

Finally, so none of you are confused, the bottom image is of the Oklahoma Sooners bandwagon used when the team plays home football game; "August: Osage County," a film based on a play takes place in Oklahoma. It stars Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.

Here is the list:

1. "Tuesday after Christmas." Romania. 2010. dir: Radu Muntean.

2. "Uszipin." Israel. 2004. dir: Giddi Dar

3. "Headhunters" Norway. dir: Mortem Tyldum

4. "Ichi the Killer" Japan. 2001. dir: Takashi Miike.

5. "Waiting Room" Turkey. 2004. dir: Zeki Demirkubuz.

6. "Dear White People" 2014. dir: Justin Simien.

7. "Schizo." Kazakhstan. 2004. dir: Gushat Omarova

8. "August: Osage County" 2014. dir: John Wells

9. "Leila" Iran. 1997. dir: Dariush Mehrjui

10. "Abel" (or "Voyeur"). Netherlands. 1986. dir: Alex van Warmerdam

Last Ten Movies I've Seen: In the Age of Netflix Streaming

Greetings to our blog readers in the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan and Canada.

Yes, there is a legit reason why we have images of Mao Tse Tung, a fried egg and Charlie Brown; they are all somehow related to the last ten films I've seen, which includes four films watched via Netflix streaming and another three watched through Netflix dvds! But, we did actually see "Boyhood" and "Snowpiercer" at the cinema.


Here is the last 10:

1) Not Fade Away. dir: David Chase. 2012

2) Yumurta/ "The Egg." Turkey. dir: Semih Kaplanoglu. 2007.

3) That Cold Day in the Park. dir: Robert Altman. 1969.

4) "La Chinoise"/"The Chinese" France. dir: Jean-Luc Godard. 1967.

5) Buried. Dir: Rodrigo Cortes. 2010 w/ Ryan Reynolds

6) Ginger and Rosa. Dir: Sally Potter. 2012.

7) Snowpiercer. South Korea (in English). Joon-ho Bong. 2013

8) A Touch of Sin. China. dir: Jia Zhangke. 2013

9) Stuck in Love.dir: Josh Boone. 2012.

10) Boyhood. dir: Richard Linklater. 2014

College Gymnastics Lists (2 of 4): The All-Stars

Here is a list of NCAA gymnasts who have been stand-outs all year or all during their respective collegiate careers. The order presented here by no means suggests where each gymnast stands nationally. It's interesting that both Bridget Sloan and Samantha Peszek who competed as Olympians for Team USA are from Indiana:

1) Bridget Sloan. Florida. Sophomore (pictured top)

2) Samantha Peszek. UCLA. Senior (pictured center)

3) Emily Wong, Nebraska. Senior (pictured bottom, she will compete for her third straight Big 10 all-around this weekend)

4) Nicolette McNair.. Stanford. Freshman.

5) Diandra Miller. Alabama. Senior.

6) Brittany Rogers. Georgia. Sophomore. (Rogers competed for Canada in the 2012 London Olympics)

7) Joanna Sampson. Michigan. Senior

8) Nansy Damianova. Utah. Senior (The Canadian gymnast's parents were gymnasts in Bulgaria)

9) Jessie Jordan. LSU. Junior.

10) Haley Scaman. Oklahoma. Sophomore.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

Comic Strips Survey from Sunday Washington Post: We Love Keith Knight and Clown Gags

Greetings to those of you reading this blog in Turkey, New Zealand and Canada. And, "Gunaydin" (Good Morning in Turkish) to those of you in Baku, Azerbaijan as well.

It was a very close survey this week, and we had a number of comic strips from "The Washington Post" that we adored this week, including "Lio," "Judge Parker" and "The Argyle Sweater" which just missed making our top ten.

But, the following comic strips did make the cut:

"Rhymes with Orange:" This week, Hilary B. Price's comic had a brilliant clown gag which would have made Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman proud as the clown finds out that the man knocking at his door is a much more unsettling figure than a Jehovah's Witness.

"Sherman's Lagoon:" Once again, a great comic strip from Jim Toomey revolving around a Galapagos turtle and a shark about what they should have for dinner.

"Knight Life:" Keith Knight's strip features a vintage play on words, and a crustacean, which one might likely find more often in "Sherman's Lagoon." And, it is the one of the funniest strip episodes to take place in a bath tub.

"Reply All:" Hmmm....to talk with a friend sitting beside you at Starbucks or showing Instagram photos of your pet poodle to your friends back home in Vermont. Donna A. Lewis' strip illustrates a problem which is not just one confronting Millennials.

Here is our survey:

1. Rhymes with Orange (image #1)

2. Sherman's Lagoon (image #2)

3. Knight Life (image #3)

4. Pearls Before Swine

5. Reply All

6. Foxtrot

7. Agnes

8. WUMO

9. Dustin

10. Big Nate

http://www.galapagos.org/about_galapagos/tortoises/

http://rhymeswithorange.com/

http://shermanslagoon.com/

http://www.gocomics.com/theknightlife#.UyZ6JelOWUk/

The Olympics List (4 of 10): The Canadians

While those of us on the east coast of the United States are in the midst of yet another major snowstorm mess which will probably provide fodder for Bill O'Reilly to say Al Gore is wrong, there is no global warming, ya da ya da ya da..........we have noticed that there is seemingly no snow in Sochi!

With that in mind, here is our list of ten Canadian athletes who are assuredly more used to snow than students at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC, one of the zip codes affected by today's storm:

1) Alex Bilodeau. Age 26. Home province: Quebec. Men's Free-style Skiing. Has won gold.

2) Dara Howell. Age 19. Home province: Ontario. Women's Free-style Skiing.  Has won gold.

3) Jesse Lumsden. Age 31. Home province: Alberta. Men's Bobsledding.

4) Heather Moyse. Age 35. Home province: Prince Edward Island. Women's Bobsledding.

5) Ryan Fry. Age 35. Home province: Ontario. Men's Curling. The team beat Russia 7-4  today.

6) Jennifer Jones. Age 39. Home province: Manitoba. Women's Curling. The team beat Great Britain 9-6 today.

7) Shea Weber. Age 28. Home province: British Columbia. Men's Hockey. Plays for Nashville Predators (pictured).

8) Laura Fortino. Age 23. Home province: Ontario. Women's Hockey. Plays for Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. The team beat the United States 3-2 today.

9) Charles Hamelin. Age 29. Home province: Quebec. Men's Short-track Speed-skating. Won gold.

10) Rosalind Groenewood. Age 24. Home province: Alberta. Free-style Skiing.

For our list of athletes from Scandinavian countries, go to our sister blog http://www.polticscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

SIDEBAR: NBC News is reporting that my beloved hometown of Roanoke, Va., will get 10-15 inches of snow during the major storm which will hit virtually the entire east coast. This is virtually the same amount of snow they are expecting in Rutland, Vermont! Major metro areas which have been affected include Atlanta, Columbia (SC), Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh (NC), Richmond (Va), Washington DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

http://olympic.ca/

http://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/

http://olympics.cbc.ca/

http://www.nbcolympics.com/

http://www.winthrop.edu

Top Ten Comics from Today's Sunday Roanoke Times: Speed Bump Stands Out

Greetings to our blog-readers in Canada, El Salvador and Brazil.

Today, we once again take a look at the Sunday funnies in "The Roanoke Times," a daily newspaper in Roanoke, Va.

We also survey the comic strips in the Washington Post: http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

Our personal favorite comic strip of the day that was in neither newspaper is "The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee:" http://edisonleecomic.com/ ..........

Other strips that we saw today online that we really enjoy include "Retail," "Pros and Cons" and "Bleeker." We actually also contemplated stating what our least favorite strip of the day was, but we gather we aren't the only ones who quit laughing at "The Family Circus" and "For Better or for Worse" a long time.

Our favorite "Roanoke Times" comic strip "Speed Bump" had a hilarious gag with two octopi/octopuses, while "Pearls Before Swine" showed bambis getting revenge on hunters and "Get Fuzzy" focused on a play on words as Bucky the whacky Siamese cat argues with his owner Rob Wilco on the differences between the words 'coop' and 'coup.

Here is our top ten:

1. Speed Bump

2. Pearls Before Swine

3. Get Fuzzy

4. Agnes

5. Doonesbury

6. Zits

7. Funky Winkerbean

8. Dilbert

9. Garfield

10. Jump Start

http://www.gocomics.com/speedbump#.UtxncTYo6Uk

http://stephanpastis.wordpress.com/

Colder than Siberia: A Look at Temps Around America (plus some around the globe)

Martin Short is shown here as Jack Frost, one of the few good things about the Tim Allen Santa Claus movie sequel that this antagonist appeared in.

Today, the whole east coast of America from Buffalo to Jacksonville, Fla., felt like Jack Frost was nipping at their collective noses.

Here is a look at some of these temps; additional ones will be on our sister blog: http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com


All temps are Fahrenheit:

1) Warsaw, Poland: 42

2) Tromso, Norway (near the Arctic Circle): 30

3) Huntsville, Alabama: 25

4) Anchorage, Alaska 25

5) Greensboro, NC: 24

6) Atlanta: 24

7) Danville, Va. 24

8) Asheville, NC: 20

9) Roanoke, Va. 19

10) Lynchburg, Va. 19

11) Washington, DC 18

12) Knoxville, Tenn. 17

13) Baltimore, Maryland 14

14) New York 10

15) Wytheville, Va. 10

16) Chicago 6

17) Buffalo, NY 5

18) Novosibirski, Russia (Siberia) 5

19) Fort Wayne, Ind. 1

20) Winnipeg, Canada -11

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/

http://www.weather.com

http://www.wunderground.com/

Top 10 Comics of the Sunday Roanoke Times: Doonsebury is Flying High

Greetings to our blog-readers in Canada, Canada and Canada..........and, Kazakhstan!

It may actually be warmer in Toronto or Alma-Ata right now, as it freezing across the state of Virginia today. But, that gave a chance to read an unholy number of comic strips, including ones in our local paper "The Roanoke Times."

Ironically, we are using the image of Lucy from "Peanuts" for "Speed Bump." the single panel comic strip by Dave Coverly which features a skunk talking to a psychiatrist or psychologist, which is a common gag in many comic strips, including "Candorville" by Darrin Bell, which is not in "The Roanoke Times."

The middle image of a pilates exercise is in reference to today's Stephan Pastis strip "Pearls Before Swine," in which rat finds out there is a hidden fee for the work-out room. Of course, this gives us a chance to plug our sponsors Fusion Pilates in Asheville, NC (just kidding, we don't know any pilates instructors in Asheville).

But, the cream of the crop (ok, pun intended), is a marijuana-themed episode of "Doonesbury," in which Garry Trudeau lampoons the legalization of marijuana in Colorado (which is the reason for the top image of the '70s kids tv show "H.R. Pufnstuf," which many have concluded to be a covert reference to reefer madness).

Ironically, Trudeau mentions "The Denver Post" in today's strip. That newspaper is perhaps one of the very few major city newspapers which does not carry "Doonesbury."

Here is our top ten from "The Roanoke Times"

1. "Doonesbury"

2. "Pearls Before Swine"

3. "Speed Bump"

4. "Garfield"

5. "Get Fuzzy"

6. "Dilbert"

7. "Jump Start"

8. "Agnes"

9. "Funky Winkerbean"

10. "Blondie"

http://doonesbury.slate.com/

http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine#.Usnz_zYo6Uk

http://www.dilbert.com/


http://www.fusionpilatesasheville.com

http://www.tehfarmco.com (Marijuana outlet in Boulder, Colo.)

Arctic Cold Comic Strip Spectacular (1 of 3): Best Comics NOT in Our Local Newspapers

Even with the imported "Washington Post," there are lots of comic strips which are not in the Sunday editions of the two main newspapers which are commercially available here in Roanoke,Va., where "The Roanoke Times" is the local paper.

In fact, we looked at 42 additional comic strips ranging from the cutting edge "F-Minus," which is available in daily editions of the "News and Observer" in Raleigh, NC, (at last check), to the right wing comic strip "Mallard Fillmore," which ironically started at "The Daily Progress," which serves Charlottesville, Va., the most liberal city in our state.

Neither of those strips made the cut this week, but we will give both of them another look in February. 

Since we have artic weather, which makes one think it might be warmer in Bergen, Norway, today than it is here in southwest Virginia, we had the time to look at all these strips, and we placed a ranking system to put them in their right place in a remotely objective manner.

We have the odd numbered strips on this blog, and the even numbered ones on our sister blog (see link below).

The top  strips in this Top 10 list dealt with an evil computer in "The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee" (which is the reason why we have HAL from Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey"), an ice storm in "Edge City" (see top image) and a great satire of the beloved American board game Monopoly in "Brevity"  (see bottom image).

The comic strip "Beeker" dealt with an ill-fated backyard hockey game, which probably helped win over Ottawa Senators fans in Canada (we could use some fans in Canada ourselves).

Here is the list:


1. "The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee" 8.4

2. "Bleeker" 8.0

3. Edge City 7.7

4. Brevity 7.6

5. Deflocked 7.5

6. Close to Home 7.4

7. The Duplex 7.3

8. Heart of the City 7.2

9. Zippy the Pinhead 7.2

10. Fort Knox 7.1

http://edisonleecomic.com/

http://bleekercomics.com/

http://edgecitycomics.com/

http://deflocked.com/

http://www.zippythepinhead.com

College Volleyball Notebook: The NCAA Tournament is Underway (4 to Watch)

Michigan and LSU have a lot in common: The schools are from major conferences, they have similar team colors and both have solid women's volleyball programs. On Friday, Michigan which includes stand-out Canadian middle blocker Jennifer Cross (pictured top, wearing number two), and LSU, a team that features exceptional middle blocker Briana Holman (pictured bottom, wearing number 13) face each other in Seattle, where the national championship game will ultimately be played.

Here is a run down of four worthy games in the field of 64; all of these matches will be played on Friday (all times are eastern):

1. Michigan vs. LSU. Seattle. 8:00 p.m.

2. Creighton vs. Arkansas Lawrence, Kansas. 5:00 p.m. (on Espn3)

3. Oregon vs. Miami (Fla). Lincoln, Nebraska. 5:30 p.m.

The Oregon Ducks feature stand-out Liz Brenner; The Miami (Fla) Hurricanes' roster includes all-ACC team member Savanah Leaf.

4. Louisville vs. Marquette. Champaign, Illinois. 5:30 p.m.

The Cardinals feature Emily Juhl, the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year.

For more tourney games, go to our sister blog http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

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