Sunday Comics Survey for Jan.4th Roanoke Times: Get Fuzzy Comes in Second Yet Again

Greetings to our blog readers in South Korea, Ireland and Russia........

Our favorite Sunday comic strip of the week was "Doonesbury." In today's strip, a patriotic man approaches a War in Iraq veteran and thanks for him for his service, but the former solider expresses misgivings about his years of combat, which provides for an awwwkward moment. Yes, this is also the reason why we have an image of Saddam Hussein at the top of our page.

Second place went to "Get Fuzzy" for the third or fourth week in a row; the strip is usually runner up to "Pearls Before Swine," which featured a pun about John Lennon (pictured bottom) songs, which finished fourth today in our survey.

Third place went to Dave Coverly's single panel jam, which was one of many strips today that had prison jokes......yeah, what's up with that?

Amazingly enough, "Family Circus" made our top ten for the third or fourth week in a row, and "For Better or For Worse," actually made our top ten for the first time since like 2003.......

Here is our top ten:

1. Doonesbury

2. Get Fuzzy

3. Speed Bump

4. Pearls Before Swine

5. Agnes

6. Dilbert

7. Non Sequitur

8. Jump Start

9. Family Circus

10. For Better or For Worse

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com (for this week's "Washington Post" comics survey)

http://www.roanoke.com

http://www.roanokedoesntsuck.com

http://www.comicskingdom.com

http://www.gocomics.com

Quote of the Day- Karl Marx

Since there were "Jeopardy" categories pertaining to both Karl Marx and John Lennon (a play on the term Marx and Lenin), we thought we'd quip the German philosopher Marx (1818-1883) who known for being the first to develop the political philosophies of socialism, at least in the modern era.

Marx is also one of the subjects made into a plush doll from the Unemployed Philosophers Guild.

Due to his controversial views, Marx lived much of his later life in exile, including stints in Paris and London, where he died. His most famous works are "The Communist Manifesto" (1848) and "Das Capital" (1867-1894).

Marx was born in Trier in southwestern Germany. His theories revolved around class struggle and conflicts between ownership and the working class.

There are historians who believe that the Soviet Union and red China which were established in theory according to Marxism were actually against Marx's thinking because he was opposed to totalitarianism.

Here is his quote:

"Capital is dead labor, which vampire-like, lives only by sucking labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks."

From the Album Collection (3 of 8)_ David Bowie's "Young Americans"

Since David Bowie and Queen collaborated on the 1981 single "Under Pressure," which was astoningly not a big hit (only reached #29 on the Billboard charts), we though we'd write up entries for their records for this series.

I only have two vinyl records from each artist, but I play both "Young Americans"
(1975) and "Let's Dance" (1983) from David Bowie very often.

"Young Americans" features a title track of the same name, which refers to the political suppression of African-Americans, and features a jab at Richard Nixon (refered to as 'President Nixon' in the song) who resigned from the Oval Office just as the record was being put together.

The album was produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, who had worked on several previous Bowie records. It was recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia and Electric Lady Studios in New York.

"Young Americans" also features Bowie's smash hit number one single "Fame," which features background vocals from John Lennon. Interestingly enough, Lennon also sang background vocals on Bowie's cover of "Across the Universe," which is another track on "Young Americans." That song was originally recorded by The Beatles.

Quote of the Week- John Lennon

Ahhh! Now there is apparently something wrong with the Amadeus Mozart bobblehead doll image I posted over the weekend. Well, it is fitting for both the zany day and the zany week I have been having, but that's as personal as we go here. Well, ok, I will admit I honestly don't care that Kim Kardashian is getting hitched. I'm a Turk; she's an Armenian. It would never work out:)

John Lennon (19401-1980) is one of several decased celebrities whom I've recently outlived. Malcolm X, Lenny Bruce, the French actress Jean Seberg ("Breathless") and the Austrian pop singer Falco (who sang "Rock Me Amadeus" which seems fitting given our recent entry) are among those who died at age 40. And, none of these deaths were natural ones.

We are quoting Lennon as part of our homage to left-wing radicals, and since Lennon was perhaps the most vocal opponent of the Vietnam War aside from Jane Fonda, he qualifies. Though, certainly given the dubious nature of that conflict, one does not have to a radical or even a liberal (well, I am the later) to think it was a very bad idea.

Here is our quote from Lennon, who would surely marvel at how insane the world is more than 30 years after his untimely death:

"God is a concept by which we measure our pain."

Status Update_ I Suffer from Kiskanclik

Status Update for 1/28:"I must profess to suffering from major jealousy when I see a cute girl with a guy, even if she is 20 years younger than me and she lives half-a-world away!"

This couple is incidentally somewhere in Japan. We presume they are in Tokyo, but perhaps they are in Osaka or Kobe.

Kiskanclik is the Turkish word for jealousy!

John Lennon had a hit song called "I'm a Jealous Guy," which ironically Yoko Ono reportedly loves!

SIDEBAR_ We wish the North Carolina State gymnastics well tonight as they face Penn State and host Florida in Gainesville, Fla, tonight. The Wolfpack are lead by Brooke Barr, Jess Panza and Brittany Vontz. They are currently ranked #10 in the country, while the host Gators are the #1 team in women's gymnastics.

Top 10 Favorite Christmas Songs- Black Santa

Before I start this random survey, which alas snubs the strangest duet of all time David Bowie and Bing Crosby's rendition of "Little Drummer Boy," which came in at number 11, I want to credit cult filmmaker/author/entertainer John Waters for introducing me to our top choice. Waters put the 1973 song "Santa Claus is a Black Man" by Akim and the Teddy Vann Production on a 2004 cd compilation called "A John Waters Christmas," and of course the world being what it is Waters was apparently sued for that!

One can also check out the latest obscure Christmas song compilation from Chicago concert promoter Andy Cirzan through christmas.soundopinions.org

The songs aired on the NPR show (produced by WBEZ-Chicago) "Sound Opinions" and they include "Flying Machine for Christmas" by Jimmy McGriff, which is as surreal as it sounds!

Another song that just missed our cut was "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch," which was the theme to the Dr. Seuss Christmas special "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." The tune was sung by the late Thurl Ravenscroft, who was the voice of the cereal commercial icon Tony the Tiger. Ravenscroft died in 2005 at age 95.

But, we think you'll like most of this list which as long-term readers will notice contains a lot of songs from the '80s when I went to Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD, (actually Glenvar High School in Salem, Va., but I like schools named after famous cool people).

Here is the list:

1. "Santa Claus is a Black Man," Akim and the Teddy Vann Production

2. "The Chipmunk Song," The Chipmunks

3. "Christmas Wrapping," The Waitresses, a great two hit wonder band from Akron, Ohio. This song came out in 1981. "I Know What Boys Like" was the band's other hit single.

4. "Father Christmas," The Kinks- perhaps the darkest Christmas song ever recorded, and it's also awesome!

5. "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer," this could be the one Christmas song they play on fm stations in Qom, Iran (that is a song though there is a city in Iran named Qom!)

6. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," Bruce Springsteen

7. "Felix Navidad" Jose Feliciano---wow, that's the second time we've mentioned Feliciano this week; we had never mentioned him in our five years of blogging!

8. "Do They Know It's Christmas...?," Band Aid_ a song that was actually kind of annoying when it first came out in 1985, but it mixes class and kitsch and where else are you going to hear Bono and Boy George on the same track!

9. "Happy Christmas (War is Over)," John Lennon and Yoko Ono_ I hate to admit but I actually thought this was an old Beatles song once!

10. "Santa Baby," Eartha Kitt_ Hey, we want females to visit this blog. I have a feeling they are not out top demographic!

Top 10 Favorite Songs from The Beatles

In a recent issue of "Rolling Stone" heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne chose "She Loves You" as his favorite tune from The Beatles while Brian Wilson, the former lead singer of The Beach Boys, chose "Hey Jude."

Since yesterday was the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's assasination, I thought I'd do my own list of my top 10 favorite songs from The Beatles.

Even though I loved The Beatles in my early teen years, I got more into the New and underground music that was popular of Album-Oriented rock radio stations as well as legendary bands from the '70s like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

Nevertheless, the music from Lenon, Paul McCartney, the late George Harrison and Ringo Starr has left a cultural impression on every music fan from Anchorage to Dubai, and beyond.

I just recently found out that the title for Stephen King's novel (which was made into a Stanley Kubrick film that the author is not found of) "The Shinning" came from the line: "We all shine on" in Lennon's solo song "Instant Karma." King happens to be own a rock and roll radio station in Bangor, Maine (100.3 FM).

Here is my list, which I may well disagree with come tomorrow morning!:

1. "Strawberry Fields Forever"

2. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"

3. "Norwegian Wood"

4. "Something"

5. "Ticket to Ride"

6. "Walrus Man"

7. "Helter Skelter"

8. "Nowhere Man"

9. "Yellow Submarine"

10. "Day Tripper"

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Jaaack-O-Lantern

For those of you who reside in a remote village in Azerbaijan, this image above is of Jack Nicholson who played Jack Torrence in the Stanley Kubrick film version of "The Shinning," based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.

King is to this day reportedly displeased with the Kubrick film. Interestingly enough, Kubrick would frequently call King when it was the middle of the night in Maine, where King still resides, and ask him absurd questions like: "Do you believe in God?"

"The Shinning" is currently showing (at least of tonight) at the famed Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Tex., which is about as close to us as a remote village in Azerbaijan (we are on the east coast).

According to the IMDB, King also professed a preference for actor Jon Voight, now known more for his radical transformation from post-Vietnam hippie to a right-wing Tea Party extremist than his still emmence on-screen talents, to play the title role instead of Jaaack Nicholson.

The title of the book apparently came about when King was listening to or thinking about the John Lennon song "Instant Karma" and the line: "We all shine on."