Sunday Comic Strips Dialogue (1/4): From the Washington Post......Curfew Sucks.....

Good afternoon to those of you viewing this blog around the world. Today, we are a bit disappointed that our beloved Swansea fell to Manchester City by a 3-1 score as our Galatasaray troops tied their cross-town Istanbul rival Besiktash 2-2 after having a two-goal lead. But, we have no control of such things.

Today, here in the USA, we are listening to a heart-churning story by Tony Cyprien of Berkely, Calif., who told an audience at "The Moth" about how he served time at the notorious San Quentin Prison that the late Johnny Cash made famous and later turned his life around.

In other news, Katie Holmes may or may not have married fellow Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx (we are kidding, Holmes has never won an Oscar). Alas, we are sorry to report that African-American character actor Bill Nunn who played Radio Raheem in Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" has died at age 62 and he is trending on Twitter now.

Here are some samples of comic strip lines we put together; these are from comic strips that ran in the Sunday Sept. 11th, 2016, edition of "The Washington Post." The pictured images are of: 1) Baldo; 2) Garfield; and 3) Baby Blues.

Here we go........!!!:

 1) "Dogs and Cats are NOT supposed to be friends," Mutts.

2) "Dad.....it's not time for new sheets," Baldo by Hector Cantu

3) "Curfew is ruining my life," Zits

4) "Your friend Steve works at a pizza place. Can you call him?" Foxtrot.

5) "Nice Souvenir T-Shirt," Frazz

6) "Tell Him Not to Lose My Phone!," Baby Blues

7) "I pulled you over to give you an ice cream cone," Knight Life, by the great Keith Knight

8) "Huh? I don't understand. The accident happened last night," Judge Parker.

9) "You mean I get a kiss just for sitting here?," Garfield

https://themoth.org/radio-hour

http://www.gocomics.com/baldo

http://babyblues.com/

http://www.gocomics.com/theknightlife

Top Ten Sunday Comic Strips from the "Roanoke Times:" Yeah, No Room for Hi and Lois

Greetings to our blog readers in Tunisia, Germany and Slovakia...........

Today, we are blogging while listening to "The Best of Bread," a compilation of hits from the '70s soft rock band Bread fronted by David Gates, who is alas like the last or next to last guy from the band who is still alive. And, we are also one hour away from the series finale of "Mad Men," which might possibly end with a song from Bread.

Here are our top ten comic strips, which include an independent business owner who wants to protest the government ("Pearls Before Swine") which reminded us of the comic book guy from "The Simpsons," a dragon preparing to snack on a knight ("Speed Bump") and Garfield coming in second to Odie at a talent show ("Garfield"), perhaps next time the 37-year-old cat should take up juggling or tap dancing:

1. Speed Bump

2. Pearls Before Swine

3. Garfield

4. Doonesbury

5. Get Fuzzy

6. Non-Sequitur

7. Agnes

8. Dilbert

9. Mutts

10. Jump Start

http://www.roanoke.com

http://www.gocomics.com/speedbump

http://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy

http://www.gocomics.com/Agnes

Our Sunday Comics Survey from "The Washington Post:" Two Perfekt Strips

Greetings to our blog readers in Bulgaria, Chile and El Salvador..........

Today, we survey our top ten favorite comic strips from the Sunday, Feb. 8th edition of "The Washington Post," for our top ten favorites from the Feb.1st edition of 'The Post,' go to our sister blog: http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

Among the comic strips in our top ten are two strips that we gave perfect 10s too (ice skater Ashley Wagner would be sooo proud), they are "Lio" and "Brewster Rockit," but on a coin flip, we went with "Lio," which features a Felix the Cat (pictured top) nod, in addition to six other comic strips felines, including (of course) Garfield (Bill Murray would be proud) and Krazy Kat from way, way back in the day......

The Danish import "WuMo" came in a close third with a brilliant strip about the food chain of the piranha (cent. image is of the cult classic 1978 film "Piranha"), and in ninth place, "Rhymes with Orange," which is also carried by "The Martinsville Bullletin" in Martinsville, Va., featured a rat who finally figured out a way to get out of a maze.

Lastly, we salute our day sponsors, including the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Ga., and Arena Stage in Washington, DC, now staging the late August Wilson's theatrical gem "King Hedley II." Well, ok, so we don't anyone associated with either entity (we just like making fun of local NPR stations, they won't get this in El Salvador, will they?!)....

Here is our top ten:

1) Lio

2) Brewster Rockit

3) WuMo

4) The Argyle Sweater

5) Prickly City (highest rating for strip)

6) Sherman's Lagoon

7) Foxtrot

8) Baldo

9) Rhymes with Orange

10) Pearls Before Swine

http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com

http://www.visitmartinsville.com

http://www.georgiaaquarium.com

http://www.arenastage.org

Sunday Comics Grand Slam (2 of 4): Superman's Vacation

Superman taking a vacation. The new era of over-protective parenting. A beach trip with a family dog. Optimism in the workplace. A 36-year old family cat coming to terms with aging. A mother and young daughter waltzing past punk rockers on a sunny afternoon. A little league baseball manager using "The Bad News Bears" as inspiration for a pep talk.

These were among the Sunday comic strips from the June 15th issue of "The Roanoke Times," which serves Roanoke, Va, and southwest Virginia communities, including the college town of Blacksburg, the rural hamlet of Rocky Mount and the high school football is everything 'round here town of Buena Vista.

One of the stunners this week was that "Pearls Before Swine," almost always one of our favorites, surprisingly tanked, while "For Better or For Worse" and "Sally Forth," two comic strips which have never made our top ten were surprisingly good.

We are using the image of Turkish Superman (the late actor Tayfun Demir) for "Speed Bump," the strip about the Man of Steel taking a getaway, the image of "Happy Days" for the "Doonesbury" strip on over-parenting and a lavish Jimmy Choo handbag for "For Better or For Worse," the strip where a stroll downtown leads to an encounter with tweenagers who look like The Ramones.

Here are our top ten comic strips from "The Roanoke Times," for our list of top ten comic strips from "The Washington Post" (same date), go to our sister blog: http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

1. "Speed Bump"

2. "Doonesbury"

3. "Funky Winkerbean" (which dealt with the beach trip with the family dog)

4. "Dilbert"

5. "Get Fuzzy"

6. "Garfield"

7. "For Better or For Worse"

8. "Sally Forth"

9. "Zits"

10. "Agnes"

http://www.roanoke.com

http://www.gocomics.com/speedbump

http://www.doonesbury.com

http://www.funkywinkerbean.com

http://www.dilbert.com

Top Ten from the Sunday "Roanoke Times"............White Rabbit Jokes Never Get Old

AAAAUUUGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

We can't seem to find the time to blog any more, so perhaps we will soon take up ice-fishing in North Dakota.

Here are our top ten comic strips from the Sunday "Roanoke Times."

"Pearls Before Swine" wins with a funny take on the Easter Bunny as he is met up with some angry little chicks, almost as if he were Bill Maher stumbling upon a tea party rally in Eden, NC, which is just outside the Roanoke newspaper's jurisdiction.

Second place goes to "Zits," as Jeremy prepares to hurriedly scramble out the door when his i-Phone shows it's 7:59 a.m., along the way he eats Pop Tarts, perhaps the most popular American breakfast product for those in a hurry.

And, "Non-Sequitur" has a revamped update on Goldilocks and the Three Bears, which concludes with the fairy tale protagonist meeting up with Little Red Riding Hood for some 'girl talk.'

Note: We didn't get around to posting our favorite "Roanoke Times" strips from last week, but we have that survey at the end of this one.


1. "Pearls Before Swine"

2. "Zits"

3. "Non-Sequitur"

4. "Dilbert"

5. "Doonesbury"

6. "Get Fuzzy"

7. "Speed Bump"

8. "Agnes"

9. "Funky Winkerbean"

10. "Garfield"

Results from April 13th:

1. "Garfield"

2. "Doonesbury"

3. "Pearls Before Swine"

4. "Agnes"

5. "Non-Sequitir"

6. "Get Fuzzy"

7. "Dilbert"

8. "Speed Bump"

9. "Funky Winkerbean"

10. "Baby Blues"

http://www.roanoke.com

http://www.dilbert.com

http://www.doonesbury.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.)

Comic Strip Dialogue_ Write a Novel in 2013

 

We conclude the year with some comic strip dialogue from the Sunday, Dec. 23rd edition of "The Roanoke Times," we hope you enjoy:

 

1) "Yes, thanks. I was behind on my holiday venting" (from "Baby Blues")

 

2) "Looks like your Uncle Fred has had too muc Christmas Cheer Again!" (from "Funky Winkerbean")

 

3) "Did you find the snake in the cubicle?" (from "Dilbert")

 

4) "Yaaa!" (from "Get Fuzzy")

 

5) "What are you going to do?" (from "Hi and Lois")

 

6) "I'm baking Christmas cookies for Liz!" (from "Garfield")

 

7) "Grampa, have you ever seen Santa Claus?" (from "Pickles")

 

6)

Comic Strip Dialogue- Be Aware of Scorpions and Hermit Crabs

We started blog entries with comic strip dialogues on a whim several weeks back, and we've discovered that they've become hits with the blog-viewing public, perhaps even in the former Yugoslav republic of Slovakia (for those of you in Slovenia, this a joke, I was actually good at geography in high school; geometry_ not so much)!

We are not going to quip any lines from "Doonesbury, " because we suspect that if we got a cease and desist order it would come from Garry Trudeau, even though we love the politics of his comic strip.

Of course, I am asking myself is this cool....like an Andy Warhol soup can kinda thing, or is this sort of illegal, like something Banksy, who ironically did a take on Charlie Brown in one of his most famous pieces of art/vandalism. We won't be quoting Charlie Brown here, but we will be quipping Linus.


These comic strip all appeared in yesterday's Sunday edition of "The Washington Post:"

1) "Nelson, I told you to pick up your Lego blocks." (from "Pickles")

2) "That was Liz, she had to cancel our date" (from "Garfield")

3) "Yes....Is there a problem?" (from "Knight Life," my favorite comic strip......shout out to Keith Knight, please don't sue me)

4) "Help! Help! Help!" (from "Hagar the Horrible")

5) "I've been trying to find out why I didn't vote" (from "Candorville," my favorite comic strip....shout out to Darrin Bell....please don't sue me)

6) "Soooooooooooo, what are you getting mom for Christmas?" (from "Sally Forth")

7) "Pay attention to expiration dates" (from "Reply All")

8) "Ed, will you please hold my purse?" (from "Dustin")

9) "Well, that's offensive" (from "Speed Bump")

10) "You're Touched All Right! What's Going on Here?" (from "Judge Parker")

11) "Relax, Honey! Just my inner child running wild" (from "Dennis the Menace")

12) "Well, my dear, I wouldn't want to deprive you of so great a pleasure" (from "The Amazing Spiderman")

13) "Sometimes, I don't think you're committed to this relationship" (from "Sherman's Lagoon," said by a hermit crab, top image)

14) "You come back here and turn on this tv! If anyone is someone, I am!!!" (from "Peanuts," said by Linus)

15) "Quick! What can kill giant scorpions?"  (from "Brewster Rockit")

16) "I hate this procedure. It's cruel and absurd." (This is actually from "Post" columnist Gene Weingarten from his weekly column 'Below the Beltway,' he also cow-writes the comic strip "Barney and Clyde").


http://www.shermanslagoon.com

http://www.candorville.com

http://www.knightlifecomic.com

http://www.replayallcomic.com

The Funny Pages Dialogue_ Let's Go Shopping

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A few weeks ago, we thought about writing up a strange conversation involving nothing but dialogue from Sunday comic strips. Of course, this is, in part, because we envy people like cartoonist Stephen Pastis of "Pearls Before Swin." We still love his comic strip even though he created a character called Ataturk the Spitting Llama. In case this is your first time visiting our blog, it is edited by a 'prominent' Turkish-American named Tilly Gokbudak, who happens to be, well, me. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is the founder of the Republic of Turkey.

And, we have nothing against Pastis, who is a Greek-American, although we may ask Jim Toomey who draws "Sherman's Lagoon" to create a character called Karamanlis the Octopus, after former Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis.

So, with that, here is some dialogue from comic strips featured in the Oct.14, 2012 edition of "The Roanoke Times."

"Shopping? Ok. I've got $126.13....How much do you need? (from "For Better or Worse")

"White Castle Rules!" (from "Agnes")

"What Happened?" (from "Baby Blues"

"Well, I'll be. She's sound asleep!" (from "Classic Peanuts, a line said by Charlie Brown)

"So, what's going on here?" (from "Funky Winkerbean")

"Take a look at this resume" (from "Dilbert")

"What's wrong, Red? You look frustrated." (from "Sally Forth")

"Tomorrow is another day." (from "Garfield")

"We need a little bull session after the game." (from "Hi and Lois")

SIDEBAR: We are diligently waiting for the score from today's Wake Forest-University of North Carolina women's field hockey (well, we believer, men's field hockey which is very popular in Pakistan, is not an NCAA sport) in the second round of the ACC tournament. The Tar Heels are hosting the Demon Deacons in Chapel Hill, NC, and the game is in session as we speak.

But, the reason for this mention is because we noticed in yesterday's edition of "The Daily Tar Heel" that UNC midfielder Kelsey Kolojechick has a very long name! UNC beat my alma mater Radford Univeristy* at home in their final regular season game 6-1 but we won't hold it against them.

For Wake Forest, Jess Newark, a freshman, scored a goal and two assists in the team's 3-1 first round win over Boston College.

And, we will salute Alayna Versage, a junior for RU, on being named all-conference in her sport (the Highlanders do not compete in the ACC).

Of course, field hockey has become a bit more popular since the gold-medal winning Dutch field hockey team got lots of coverage at the London 2012 Olympics.

*Radford University is located in Radford, Virginia.

THIS JUST IN: Though we are not in Chapel Hill, we can report a final as UNC wins over Wake Forest 4-0 to advance to the ACC final, which UNC will also host. Kelsey Kolojechick had an assist in the victory.


http://www.funkywinkerbean.com

http://www.dilbert.com

http://www.garfield.com

http://www.hiandlois.com

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.ruhighlanders.com

http://www.wakeforestsports.com

Break from Politics-Top 10 Things Under My Kitchen Sink

There seem to few things as annoying as product commercials, but campaign ads seem to take the cake and if you are in a swing state and have to watch WSOC-TV (Channel 9, Charlotte, NC), WDBJ-TV
(Channel 7 Roanoke, Va.) or WHOV-TV (Channel 13, Des Moines, Iowa), you will stuck with them for the next 11 days, so we thought we'd offer a break with a random top ten list of things in under my kitchen sink.

Here they are:

1) Draino toliet cleaner

2) Garfield cat bowls

3) Comet Bathroom Cleaner

4) recyclable shopping bags

5) old silverware

6) Mop N Glo

7) plates

8) Armor All car cleaner

9) tissue boxes

10) garbage bags

http://www.whotv.com

http://www.wsoctv.com

http://www.wdbj7.com

http://www.garfieldminusgarfield.net

Saturday Tweets_ Patio Party Time

Let's jump in the pool, here are some tweets from the 15:00-16:00 (3:00-4:00 p.m.) hour New York time today; at that hour, it was 4:00 p.m. in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 8:00 p.m., in London, England, 10:00 p.m. in Istanbul and 11:00 p.m. in Dubai:

1) @LailaLalami (Laila Lalami is a writer whose work frequently appears in "The Nation"): "What a difference 4 years make. A majority of Democrats support keeping Guantanamo open and approve of drone program."

2) @GroveWinery (a winery near Greensboro, NC): "Patio Party! Sunday! $2.99 glasses of wine all day_ Readings from local novelist_ Free food tasting."

3) @WVUSportsBuzz (West Virginia University sports): "The WVU volleyball team competed in its annual Gold-Blue match today with Team Gold claiming victory."

4) @tnr ("The New Republic"): "Will the Obamas be able to convince people who already support him to vote."

5) @ncatsuaggies (North Carolina A & T University in Greensboro, NC): "Welcome to all our new followers. We are 5 followers short of 500. Who should we follow to even things out?"

6) @davidmtset (Dave Test): "The internet is a better place beacuse @GMinusG exists." (referring to the "Garfield" satire "Garfield Minus Garfield" with no fat cat).

7) @LOLGOP: "Paul Ryan taking over your Medicare is like Mitt Romney and Bain taking over your factory." (Yes, this tweet is the reason for the purple elephant).

http://www.lailalami.com

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.grovewinery.com

http://www.letsgomountaineers.net

http://www.tnr.com

http://www.ncat.edu

http://www.garfieldminusgarfield.net  

Happy Thanksgiving from Charlie Brown

As is our tradition whenever there is a holiday, we like to wish it from a cartoon character, kitschy celebrity (such as Barry Manilow) or whacko politician (ie. Michele Bachmann). And, today we go with the legendary comic strip character Charlie Brown, the brainchild of Charles Schultz (1922-2000).

When I was tutoring a student taking an English class, I actually compared Charlie Brown to Willy Loman, the character at the center of Arthur Miller's stage play "Death of a Salesman," in order to get the student to grasp the play's themes and simplify them.

Charlie Brown made his debut in "Peanuts" on Oct. 2, 1950. Snoopy came into the picture two days later. The beloved pooch also made its Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade debut as a float in 1968, a full 16 years before a float for Garfield, the comic strip cat created by Jim Davis that debuted in 1978, made his way down lower Manhattan in 1986.

Today's parade also feature a reincarnation of a float for the video game character Sonic the Hedgehog and a float created by filmmaker Tim Buron, called Character B.

Charlie Brown is noted for his rivalry with Lucy van Pelt, who pulls the football away from him as she did in the very last original "Peanuts" strip on Feb. 13, 2000.

The Little Red Head Girl is the figure of Charlie Brown's infactuation, but since he represents futility across the board, he never gets to meet her_ not even for a date at Starbucks (yes, we are aware there were no Starbucks around in 1950; it was a joke). She never actually physically appears in any of the comic strips, but her face has been shown on tv specials for "Peanuts." The character usually appears in strips that were written by Schultz around Valentine's Day.

Charlie Brown is also associated with the holidays because of both the Thanksgiving special, which first aired on Nov. 20, 1973, and the Christmas special, which premiered on Dec. 9, 1965, before folks in the United States started celebrating Christmas in September!

SIDE DISH: As we reported yesterday, my alma mater Radford University played the Univeristy of Kentucky, the #2-ranked men's basketball team, in Lexington, Ky., last night. And, like Charlie Brown trying to kick the dreaded football, the Highlanders came up very short in an 88-40 loss to the Wildcats. Terrence Jones scored 17 points for the home team; Jonathan Edwards scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds for RU.

SIDE DISH TWO: Yes, folks started lining some time ago for the Black Friday Sale at Target which gets underway at midnight here on the East. According to a tweet from "The Charlotte Observer," some 15 customers had started lining up at the main Charlotte, NC, Target store circa 8:00 p.m., a full hours before the madness begins.

Silly Picture to Fill Space- The Chia Pet

I promised a friend of mine in Martinsville, Va., that I would be posting an image of the chia pet as part of our Silly Picture to Fill Space series. I'm not sure that he actually believed me, but here it is!

While researching this piece, I found out that the chia pet first hit the market in 1982. You are supposed to water some moistened seeds which allows the green substance to fully grow.

There are now licensed chia pets for Garfield, The Looney Tunes and The Simpsons.

In addition, one can supposedly find chia pets for both Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Hopefully, there are no Sarah Palin chia pets on the market quite yet!