Comic Strip Survey: For the First Time, We Check Out the Baltimore Sun

Greetings to our blog readers in Hong Kong, Turkey, and Germany........

This week for the first time in the eight-year history of this blog, we look at Sunday comic strips from "The Baltimore Sun." We were hoping to see "Zippy the Pinhead," and as it turns out, yesterday Bill Griffith's comic strip was truly a piece of art. Today, he made vintage fun of Donald Trump; even Bao Bao, the panda at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., isn't such an easy target.

Omigosh, we just made a major faux paux as it is considered rude to mention Washington, D.C., when one is talking about Baltimore. Fortunately, when I briefly met John Waters, a cult film director from Charm City, in 2002, I did not make this mistake. But, I only talked to him for about eight seconds, which is how long I spent talking to Willie Nelson backstage at a Farm Aid concert  around that same time.

"The Baltimore Sun" features several comic strips which we don't see in the other newspapers we survey, like "The Washington Post" (whoops again!), including "Mother Goose and Grimm," "The Middletons," and "One Big Happy." All three of those strips made our big list.

First place goes to "Foxtrot," which features the family going out for a Sunday picnic at a state park in a place like The Humpback Bridge State Park in Covington, Va., and they encounters all sorts of natural elements likes ticks (top image), poison ivy, and snakes. Of course, in Florida, they would also have to worry about alligators.

Third place goes to "Speed Bump," in which a judge (center image) tweets his verdict, somehow we can't imagine Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas doing such a thing (ahhh, that's the third D.C. reference).

And, in sixth place, we have "Mother Goose and Grimm," which ironically has a nursery rhyme themed strip (given its title) as Humpty Dumpty falls off his great wall. We actually didn't get the Obamacare gag (and, that makes four), but we liked the strip enough as it is.

Now, let's give this list which you can perhaps read on the Metro after you've come back from seeing that new Woody Allen movie at the Landmark E-Street Cinema...........now, we are up to five!:

1) Foxtrot

2) Pearls Before Swine

3) Speed Bump

4) Dilbert

5) Get Fuzzy

6) Mother Goose and Grimm

7) The Middletons

8) One Big Happy

9) Garfield

10) Zits

http://www.baltimoresun.com/

http://baltimore.org/

http://www.visitmaryland.org/

http://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot

Quotes from Off the Beat and Path (2 of 6): John Waters

When we last posted 12 days ago, Robin Williams was still alive, everyone from Bill Gates to Didier Drogba to the Florida State women's volleyball team had not taken the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and Ferguson, Mo., was a suburb of St.Louis no one outside the Show Me State knew of.

So, here is our quote from the Baltimore hipster, film director and author John Waters:

"I pride myself on the fact that work has no socially redeeming value."

Happy Mother's Day from Joan Crawford

Today is Mother's Day, an occasion celebrated around the world, so we thought we'd wish you a Happy Mother's Day from the Joan Crawford (1905-1977) who was the subject of the controversial, campy biopic "Mommie Dearest" (1981) with Faye Dunaway playing Crawford. Dunaway reportedly hates the film with a passion, so it's highly unlikely that she was the Bow Tie Cinema in Reston, Va. (a suburb of Washington, DC) for this morning's screening of the film, which cult film director John Waters adores.

"Mildred Pierce" (1945), arguably Crawford's best role, airs tonight at 10 p.m. New York Time on TCM.

 One of our favorite Crawford quotes is the following:

"I was born in front of a camera and don't really know anything else."http://www.tcm.comhttp://www.joancrawfordbest.comhttp://www.legendaryjoancrawford.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Elia Kazan

Since the Oscars will be televised at the month, we have decided to quote Academy-Award film directors throughout February. Keep in mind that the number of acclaimed film directors who never won an Oscar is a bit shocking, as it includes the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles.

But, one film director who is a worth Oscar-winner is Elia "Gadge" Kazan (1909-2003) who won Best Director Oscars for "Gentleman's Agreement" (1948) and "On the Waterfront" (1955). His direction of the screen version of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951), written by Tennessee Williams, is frequently cited as one of best screen adaptations of a stage play.

Kazan also won three Tony Awards for Best Director, including two Arthur Miller plays "All My Sons" (1947) and "Death of a Salesman" (1949) as well as "J.B.," a 1958 play by Archibald Macleish based on the Biblical story of Job. Cult actor John Cazale, who died at age 42 in 1978, starred in a 1962 off-Broadway production of "J.B.," which was not directed by Kazan.

The son of Anatolian Greek immigrants also directed "Viva Zapata!" (1952) with his frequent collaborator Marlon Brando; a film which us Netflix users are eagerly awaiting for. Interestingly enough, in a editorial by William Kristol in the conservative magazine "The Weekly Standard," this film was cited by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as his personal favorite. The editorial was written when McCain was running as the Republic nominee for president in 2008.

Kazan also helmed a screen version of "America! America!" (1963) based on his own novel. The movie was partially filmed in Istanbul, Turkey, the city of Kazan's birth. Kazan recieved an Oscar nomination for directing that film as well.

Here is our quote from Gadge:

"A good director's not sure when he gets on the set what he's going to do."

SIDEBAR: Having just returned from The Bahamas, we wanted to recommend other potential tourists to be sure to visit the Ardasta Zoo in the capital of Nassau where one can watch a dancing pink flamingo show at 10:30, 2:10 and 4:10. It would be quite ironic if film director John Waters was at one of these shows (forgive the movie people humor).

In Baltimore, which is the hometown of the eccentric filmmaker, the Maryland Zoo is hosting an adults only Sex in the Zoo talk about the mating habits of animals. Our collective jaws recently dropped when we read about how porcupines mated in the last issue of "Mental Floss."

SIDEBAR 2: For some reason, Godzilla and Quick Draw McDraw are two of the hot links on our blog this week!

Quote of the Week- John Waters

We must profess that while we love John Waters, we are not sure what to make of his early films from the 1970s. Though I have yet to see his most-famous film "Pink Flamingos," which was made in that era, I've been told that I would probably enjoy watching "Midnight Express" again, more (I'm a Turkish-American).

While we were fully aware that he partnered with the late cult film actor Divine
(1945-1988), we were unaware that another deceased underground figure Cookie Mueller (1949-1989) also appeared in many Waters films, which have mostly been filmed in the director's native Baltimore. "Serial Mom" with Kathleen Turner is actually my personal favorite. Amazingly enough, a movie about a suburban mom who turns out to be a serial killer is also among the most mainstream films Waters has ever made!

Here is our quote, which we truly agree with in every way, if it were only realistically possible:

"True success is figuring out your life and career so you never have to be around jerks."

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!

Quote of the Week- John Waters

John Waters and Alan Ball will be among the guests at this year's Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville on Thursday. Waters' classic film "Pink Flamingos," which I myself am a bit to squeamish to view though perhaps it's not as bad as last night's episode of "Dexter," will be among the films screened in C'ville.

When I lived in Virginia, I had gone to it some ten or eleven years in a row. Even though I now live in North Carolina (well just over the border), I am still considering going there this year but I am a person who drives an hour to work during the freaking week!

Nevertheless, regardless if I attend or not, it should be an interesting event.

We use the occasion to once again quote Waters, who divides his time between Baltimore and Provincetown, Mass.

We have perhaps quipped Waters more often than any film director except perhaps Woody Allen and Jean-Luc Godard:

"I thank God I was raised Catholic, so sex will always be dirty."

The Last 10 Films I've Seen

This may qualify as an in-joke since I am using two images from the original books to two movies I've recently seen on my two respective blogs.

The in-joke is that because I watch so many films, I rarely get around to actually reading novels, but perhaps I can read the original book to "Where the Wild Things Are" (pictured here) since it is reportedly less than 300 words! Perhaps, my friends Sam Riddleberger (pseudodymn) and CeCe Bell (a married couple, both of whom are children's book authors) would be proud of me.

I have read William Burroughs' novel "Naked Lunch" several times though, but I haven't read Upton Sinclair's novel "Oil!," which was the basis for "There Will Be Blood." However, I have read Sinclair's most famous work "The Jungle," which I don't believe ever got made into a movie.

I got this idea from "Film Comment" magazine which lists the last ten films that film directors or esteemed film critics have seen. I forget whose list I saw last (I think it may have been Wes Anderson) though I would love to see the list of films that Quentin Tarantino and John Waters have seen.

Here is my list, going from the film I've seen most recently backwards. I actually saw all but three of these films at a movie theatre, including a midnight screening in Greensboro, NC, of the ever-disturbing Japanese horror film "Audition."

The star indicates that I had viewed the film previously:

1. "In the Loop"
2. "Zombieland"
3. "Where the Wild Things Are"
4. "Audition" (Japan)*
5. "Death at a Funeral"
6. "Bright Star"
7. "Capitalism: A Love Story" (doc)
8. "Naked Lunch"*
9. "There Will Be Blood"*
10. "Cold Souls"

Movie Theatre of the Week: The Grandin, Roanoke, Va.

Today we start a new series in which we will profile a historic cinema in the United States every week or so. I hope to profile at least one cinema from every state plus Washington, DC.

I begin with the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va. The only reason I have not been going to movies there since the 1930s* when it initially opened is because I was not around in the 1930s.

The first movie I saw there was a revival of Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" in 1984 when I was 14 years old, which means that Jason Garnett, the current manager of the Grandin and a good friend of mine, was 8 years old at the time!

On Dec. 20, The Grandin will screen John Waters' 1981 cult film "Polyester" in smell-o-vision. There will NOT be a seance to bring Waters' frequent star Divine back to life, but the first 200** folks who come in will get smell-o-vision cards.

The Grandin is also one of the six or seven reasons why my hometown is more socially progressive and hip than Provo, Utah, though I've heard arch conservatives Republicans go there just to eat the popcorn.

Perhaps, they will come by on Dec. 20 expecting to see "It's a Wonderful Life."

Hmmm.........in that case, a seance, even one for Jimmy Stewart, would be a very bad idea.

*-I believe that is the right decade the theatre opened

**-I believe 200 is the right number

See our entry about the North Theatre in Danville, Va. on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."