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

Casualties of Modern Technology (10 of 12)- Drive-In Theatres

Today's Casualty of Modern Technology is the drive-in theatre which has actually been enjoying a bit of a renaissance, much like vinyl records, but there is no mistake that the hey-day of the drive-in (1955-1979) has long passed. Many drive-ins have become bowling alleys, shopping malls, flea markets and even Wal-Marts.

According to Wikipedia, the drive-in theatre consists of a big outdoor screen, and the venues are known for concession stands, which generally serve ball park foods, such as hot dogs and pizzas. Patrons can also listen to a film's sound on a small-range FM radio station.

The first drive-in opened in Camden, NJ, in 1932. And, some notable drive-in films include the likes of "Werewolves on Wheels" (1971), " The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974) and "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977).

This weekend, the Eden Drive-In in Eden, NC, will screen a double-header on Friday and Saturday consisting of "The Lucky One" and "The Avengers." Some 120 miles away in Christiansburg, Va., the Starlite Drive-In in Christiansburg, Va., will screen a single feature in "The Three Stooges."

In other parts of the United States, the Mendon Twin Drive-In (pictured here) will show a double-header with "The Avengers" and "The Hunger Games" on screen one; while "Battleship" and "Dark Shadows" will be shown on screen two.

The historic Bengies Drive-In in Baltimore, Maryland, which has one of the largest screens in the United State, will show "The Avengers,"  "Chimpanzee" and "The Raven."

http://www.screengems.org

http://www.edendrivein.com

http://www.starlitedrivein.info

http://www.mendondrivein.com

http://www.bengies.com

Status Update- Thank God, It's Spring Break

It may be ironic that as someone who is not quite a religious person, such as myself, is praising an almighty deity which may or may not exist (we will let Bill Maher and Glenn Beck debate this, both of whom are coming here to Greensboro, NC, for lavish ticket prices soon, but we are much more inclined to agree with Maher).

But, as a teacher, I am glad that spring break has arrived. I would never share this with my students (who hopefully never read my blog) but I actually have Alice Cooper's original 1975 version of "School's Out," which has been covered by the heavy metal band GWAR, on vinyl!

While I was in Chapel Hill, NC, a few weeks ago, I noticed that evangelicals and fundamentalists were meeting each other (nicer word for confronting) on the campus of The University of North Carolina.

According to "The Daily Tarheel," UNC student Nick Sienerth, a freshman from Burlington, NC, held up a sign for the Church of the Spaghetti Monster, a group formed in Oregon to make fun of fundamentalists, while the Rev. Gary Birdsong, who is seemingly as radical as his counterpart the Rev. Johnny Robertson of Martinsville(who we believe has publicly said some not very nice things about gays), was 'visiting' campus.

During that sojourner, I also visited the Internationalist Bookstore on Franklin Street, where I found a nifty book about the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who said that 'God is dead.' Assuredly, those sentiments are not too popular in Eden, NC, which is 'considerably' more conservative than Chapel Hill.

Incidentally, we chose Richard Pryor for this photo because we thought he provided the 'voice of God' in the early '80s Biblical satire "Wholly Moses." Through modern technology (well Wikipedia and the IMDB) we were proven wrong! Pryor was a pharaoh instead.