Our Top Sunday Washington Post Comics of the Week for Dec. 7th

Greetings to our blog readers in Lithuania, Ukraine and Georgia!

There are many comic strips which don't get into even the largest American newspapers, such as "The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee," Bleeker the Rechargeable Dog," "The Flying McCoys," "The Fusco Brothers" and "Strange Brew," but here is a sample of comic strips which are in the "Washington Post."

The large metropolitan newspaper serving the nation's capital as well as much of Virginia and Maryland has an eclectic mix of legacy comic strips like "Beetle Bailey" and "Hagar the Horrible" as well as nationally established comic strips such as "Zits" and "Pearls Before Swine" as well as some trendy comic strips with cult followings like "Prickly City" and "Reply All."

"WUMO," a single panel import from Denmark, is perhaps our most favorite comic strip in the Sunday edition, but this Sunday's comic strip featuring a failed effort by a teenager to leap from the moon to earth didn't work for us, but some of our usual favorites, like "Lio," "Brewster's Rockit" and "Sherman's Lagoon" once again made the proverbial cut.

"Lio" focused on the title character having a false sense of confidence with his new paint by the numbers (hence the reason why we have the late Bob Ross for our top image), "Doonesbury," which came in second, focused on panels dedicated to each of the strip's anchor characters, and "Brewster's Rockit" featured a major brewhaha over a workplace coffee maker aboard a spaceship (Captain Kirk would be proud).

"Dustin," which has nothing do with Dustin Hoffman (bottom image), examined a father and son debating if an older man and a younger woman were romantically involved like the late Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon were back in the day or if they were father and daughter.

Meanwhile, "Sherman's Lagoon" also focused on dating, but for this comic strip, Jim Toomey had Sherman the Shark and Mrs. Shark going out on a date as a married couple who know each other just a bit too well.

Here is our top ten:

1) Lio

2) Doonesbury

3) Brewster Rockit

4) Dustin

5) Pearls Before Swine

6) Knight Life

7) Sherman's Lagoon

8) The Argyle Sweater

9) Foxtrot

10) Judge Parker

http://www.gocomics.com/lio

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

For Canada Day_ A Quote from William Shatner

Greetings to our blog readers in Kenya, Panama and Norway.

Today, our friends to the north are celebrating Canada Day. The American magazine "Mental Floss" has a list of "19 Things You Might Not Know Were Invented in Canada." We won't give the whole list away, but instant replay was #11. Additionally, there is a quiz which asks you "Are They Canadian?," these celebrities include everyone from Helen Hunt to Pamela Sue Anderson.

And, "The Montreal Gazette" has a "Know Canada" quiz, which seems about as challenging as a Bulgarian literature category would be on "Jeopardy," a show which is hosted by Canadian Alex Trebek.

But, our special quote for the day comes from Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, 82, who was born in Montreal:

"Babies have big heads and big eyes, and tiny little bodies with tiny little arms and legs. So did the aliens at Rosewell. I rest my case."

SIDEBAR: We are saddened to hear about the death of French acrobat Sarah Guyard-Guillot, 31, a mother of two, who was among the performers in Cirque de Soleil's "Ka" in Las Vegas. She fell some 50 feet to her death over the weekend during a production of the show. Cirque de Soleil is a Canadian troupe, and this was the company's first death in its 30 year history.


http://www.williamshatner.com

http://www.startrek.com

http://www.mentalfloss.com

http://www.montrealgazette.com

Free Form Blog Entry: We'll See How This Goes

Today, we are trying something new. I am going to use six terms: Richard Nixon, Julie Delpy (a French actress now in "Before Midnight," pictured center), New York Mets, Star Trek, New Zealand and Efes Pilsen (a Turkish beer) and try to make a flash fiction piece out of it. Don't try this at home!


Here we go:

"Stan was reading an article about the 'Nixon in China' opera in 'Mental Floss' when his ex-girlfriend Diane called and asked him if he wanted to come over to her apartment in Brooklyn and watch '2 Days in New York' with Julie Delpy and Chris Rock.

But, Stan realized he had promised his friend Woody that he would go to the New York Mets game with him. Though, Stan wasn't as interested in baseball as he had been in his youth. He wasn't even sure whom the Mets were playing. 'Is the Pittsburgh Pirates?,' he asked to himself.

Then, Stan got another call from a platonic female friend Florence who wanted to see the new Star Trek movie with. 'Star Trek' was another thing Stan had lost interest in. He then realized that women in black bikinis were about the only things from his twenties which still interested him.

He then imagined himself traveling to New Zealand, and getting away from it all. Stan then opened his fridge, and he found a mysterious bottle of Efes Pilsen, a Turkish beer. 'Where the hell did this come up,' Stan asked?

Stan popped open the brew and watched C-Span trying to decide what he would do that night, and which of the friends he shouldn't try to disappoint. Two hours later, he was still watching C-Span."


http://www.c-span.org

http://www.mentalfloss.com

http://www.startrek.com

Birthplaces of Star Trek People: The Original Cast, et al

At the last moment, we came up with this crazy idea, well, ok this plan was suggested by Javier the Intern*_ and, it is to name the birth places of various people who are in some small way connected to "Star Trek." Yes, of course, Javier thought of this because there is yet another Star Trek film, what is this 45 so far?

Here we go:

1) William Shatner. Captain Kirk (pictured above): Montreal, Canada

2) Joan Collins (pictured above): London, England; she was a guest star in the episode "City on the Edge of Forever," considered to be the best episode on the original show.

3) Mari Dusay: Hays, Kansas, USA; she was a guest star on "Spock's Brain," which is widely considered to be the worst episode on the original show.

4) Sadri Alisik#: Istanbul, Turkey, he played Tourist Omer in "The Turkish Star Trek" (1973)

5) George Takei: Los Angeles, Calif., USA; he is the original Mr. Sulu.

6) Leonard Nimoy: Boston, Mass., USA: Mr. Spock, we presume.

7) Patrick Stewart: Mirfield (Yorkshire), England

8) Malcolm McDowell- Horsforth (Yorkshire), England

9) Ricardo Montalban#: Mexico City, Mexico

10) John Belushi#: Chicago, Ill., USA

11) Jim Carrey: Newmarket (Ontario), Canada

12) Nichelle Nichols: Robbins, Ill., USA

Belushi and Carrey played parodies of Captain Kirk on tv.

*-Javier the Intern is a fictional character

#-Actors who are now deceased

http://www.startrek.com

http://www.trekweb.com

Rabbit Ears Quiz (9 of 12)_ "In Search Of...."

Today, we go with an image that doesn't exactly match the tv show, as this is an image of the UFO Museum in Istanbul, Turkey, of all places.

We are focusing on the 30-minute documentary series "In Search Of..." which was narrated by Leonard Nimoy, who is, of course, best known for being Mr. Spock on "Star Trek."

Amazingly enough, "In Search Of..." is his most succesful venture away from "Star Trek." The series also outlasted "Star Trek" as it ran for 146 epidoes over a six-year period from 1976-1982.

The series examined mysterious things, like paranormal activiting, such as BigFoot, UFOs and the Lochness Monster, as well as people who disappeared mysteriously, including D.B. Cooper and Amelia Earhardt.

Three shows I recall watching when the show aired at 6:30 p.m. on Sundays on WSET (Lynchburg, Va.) when I was a child included an episode about the death of Marily Monroe, the disappearance of Charles Lindbergh's baby and the mass suicide in Guyana of followers to the Rev. Jim Jones.

Other unique shows, included one about the Swamp Monster in Louisiana, the discovery of Troy in modern-day Turkey and just who was Jack the Ripper.

Today, for our quiz, we ask who hosted the initial pilot episode of "In Search Of...," Rod Serling of "Twilight Zone" fame had narrated two documentary films which lead to the series that Nimoy hosted.

Is the answer:

A. Robert Vaughn

B. William Conrad

C. Peter Falk

D. Orson Welles

The Rabbit Ear Test_ (8 out of 12)_ "The Time Tunnel"

Last time around, we featured "The Love Boat," which was produced by the late Aaron Spelling, who also gave the tv world such shows as "Charlie's Angels," "Fantasy Island" and "Dynasty." Today, we go with a producer known not for glossy tv shows, but rather science-fiction show which still have loyal cult followings to this day.

Irwin Allen (1916-1991), who also produced adventure and disaster movies, produced four tv shows in the 1960s. While the other three shows "Lost in Space" (1966-68), "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (1964-68) and "Land of the Giants" (1968-70) were relative hits, "The Time Tunnel" was not even though it received widespread critical acclaim.

I show "The Time Tunnel," which aired in 1966 in the United States, a full decade after it was on American television when it aired on the TRT (Turkish Radio and Television) during the two years that we lived in Turkey from 1977-79. In Turkey, the show was called "Zaman Tuneli," which literally means time tunnel.

"The Time Tunnel" starred James Darren, now 74, who would also team with another '60s science-fiction tv series star William Shatner of "Star Trek" in the cop show "T.J. Hooker," which debuted in 1982.

The show also used props, such as guns and computers, that had also been used on other Allen-produced shows as well as "Batman" (which Allen did not produce).

"The Time Tunnel," like all Allen vehicles, was considered expensive for its time. And, the show was known for unique plots, including ones where Darren's character Dr. Anthony Newman (Tony) finds himself on board the Titanic during its fatal voyage (he escapes, of course) and on Pearl Harbor right before its attack.

In the 1960s, continuity was not a major concern as it is today, so according to Wikipedia, in one episode Tony says he was born in 1938, and then a few episodes later he states that he was seven years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked (that took place on Dec. 7, 1941).

John Williams, who would later collaborate with Steven Spielberg as music composer for virtually all of his films, including "Jaws," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "E.T." composed the theme for "The Time Tunnel."

So, today, for our quiz, and we hope to remember to provide the answer in the coming entries, we ask just how many episodes were made of this show, which alas didn't last as long as it should have.

Is the answer?:

A) 24 shows

B) 28 shows

C) 30 shows

D) 32 shows

Quote of the Day/Week-Simon Pegg

We continue quoting people born in 1970, the year that this blog's managing editor Tilly Gokbudak (ok, that is me) was born, with a quip from the British comic actor Simon Pegg who turned 42 a month ago on Valentine's Day.

Pegg is known for many comedy roles with a sci-fi or horror angle, including "Star Trek," "Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz" and "Paul."

His nickname is The Fresh Pegg, and he apparently likes "Star Wars" and "Doctor Who;" here is his quote:

"American audiences tend to be more expressive than British ones."

Casualties of Modern Technology (5 of 12)_View-Masters

Today, we are continue to feature two items which are still on the market, at least here in the United States, but it is a safe assumption that both View-Masters, which we are featuring here, and board games, such as Monopoly, are used less often than they were 30-35 years ago.

When I was a child in the 1970s, View-Masters were extremely popular, and there were 3-D slides for many popular tv shows and movies, such as "The Lone Ranger."

My mom, who is an antiques dealer, has also sold earlier versions of the View-Master that were sold at tourist destinations, including Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon. This form of the View-Master was introduced at the 1939 World's Fair in New York, according to Wikipedia.

In 1966, the products were merchandised with popular tv shows, including "Star Trek" and "Rowan and Martin's Laugh In."

Though they are found less often in the open market, Fisher Price still produces View-Masters, and there are slides with images from popular children's films, such as "Toy Story 3."

The used View-Masters we grew up with are available through sites like e-bay, and from what I noticed, they typically seem to sell for about $10 each.

Quote of the Day/Week- Pele

Since we have been completely obsessed with soccer later (auggh! I forgot to check the scores in the Dutch League, but we think PSV Eindhoven won), and we are focusing on Latin America), I thought it would good to quip Pele for a second time.

The first time we quoted him was on one of these two blogs during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. For those of you from the planet Neptune, Pele is from Brazil, and here is his quote:

"A penalty is a cowardly way to score."

SIDEBAR: For those who were wondering what the answer is to our "Rabbit Ears Quiz" from earlier in the week regarding the cartoon version of "Star Trek," it is A) 57 episodes. That is the differential between the number of episodes in the original show and the cartoon, which ran for 22 episodes from 1973-74.

The Rabbit Ears Quiz (4 of 12)_ Star Trek the Cartoon

Tonight's entry in the Rabbit Ears Quiz series takes us back to September 8, 1973, when I was three years old. It was on this 'stardate' that the cartoon version of "Star Trek" debuted.

It would go on to last for 22 episodes, which were rerun frequently; the last original episode first aired on Oct. 12, 1974.

The cartoon edition retained the voices of virtually all cast members, including William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock) and Sulu (George Takei).
The lone exception was that of Walter Koening, now 75, who played Pavel Chekov. But, the producers of the show made it up to Koening by having write the show's seventh episode "The Infinite Vulcan."

According to Wikipedia, one of the key advantages of the animated version was that larger aliens were able to be depicted. One of the show's most popular episodes was "The Magicks of Megas-tu" (the show's eighth episode) involving a devil-like villain named Lucien.

The show was produced by Filmation which later produced the cartoon series "The New Adventures of Flash Gordon" (1979-81).

So, for our trivia question, we are going to ask what is the mathematical difference between the number of episodes of the original "Star Trek" and its animated version.

Is the answer?:

A) 57

B) 55

C) 53

D) 50

E) 48

Highlights From My Things to Improve My Life List

Relationships. Career Networking. Proper Diet and Exercise. How to get along with your Spacely Sprockets boss*. Let's face it, self-help books are very trendy even if more and more people are reading "War and Peace" via Kindle now.

And, since I've already wasted some precious time on this Saturday night by watching a Jewish satire of "Dexter," a 'Star Trek' opera sequence and a cello/orchestra take on the kitschy '80s hard rock anthem "The Final Countdown" as performed in Kipsala, Latvia, on Youtube, posting portions of a list seems like a simpler way to post today's blog entry.

There are actually 24 things on the whole list; I've decided to divide them up into 12 items for my two blogs.

Here is the first part of the list:

1. Get a girlfriend

2. Write second draft of novel you've been kinda/sorta working on since March.

3. Exercise/join a gym/anything but power yoga

4. Move out of current zip code of residence (yes, that's why the U-Haul truck is pictured above)

5. Take more photographs, especially of old things

6. Write some more poems; Nikki Giovanni had to start somewhere

7. Write second draft of memoir that was typed up last year, after all it might not get published for 24 years when mom will be 95.

8. Put photographs up on Facebook

9. Be more organised (we're using the British spelling to get more hits from the UK).

10. Listen to more vinyl; we should find a copy of "Some Girls" by The Rolling Stones.

11. Write a full-length play; anything has to be better than the failed soap opera satire I wrote three years ago.

12. Learn how to socially network via the Internet.

*-Demanding boss in the 1960s cartoon "The Jetsons"

Quote of the Week- William Shatner

Admitedly, us Americans tend to overlook our neighbors to the north. In fact, my last entry dedicated to a Canadian may have been when I wished former UCLA gymnast and Canadian Olympian Yvonne Tousek a happy 30th birthday (on our other blog) last year.

But, this month, I am quoting all sorts of famous Canadians. And, perhaps no Canadian is as famous as William Shatner, who turned 80 earlier this year. He is, of course, known for playing Captain Kirk on "Star Trek" on tv in the '60s, and again with a series of films starting in 1979.

Recently, Shatner stunned the world by releasing a music album with his covers of songs like "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. Having heard a snipet of the song on NPR, I can vouch that listening to the Oak Ridge Boys' song "Elvira" on an AM country radio station in Kentucky might be slightly less painful.

So, here is our quote from Shatner:

"How do I so healthy and boyishly handsome? It's simple. I drink the blood of young runaways."

SIDEBAR: Our good friend and fellow blogger Chris Knight took on Shatner in a spoof of "Priceline" commercials with the help of Addy Miller, who is the little zombie girl in AMC's "The Walking Dead." And, Shatner himself actually tweeted about the matter!

A similar thing occured several months ago when Harry Shearer, the voice of Principal Skinner on "The Simpsons," tweeted that my friend Jason Garnett was showing Shearer's documentary film about the Hurrican Katrina fiasco "The Big Uneasy" at the Shadowbox Microcinema in Roanoke, Va. That film is now out on dvd.

SIDEBAR TWO: Much focus has been on the futile marriage between Armenian-American model/celebrity/reality tv show star Kim Kardashian and Kris Humpries of the New Jersey Nets. For those who have been hanging out in Buddhist monastaries in Bhutan, the marriage ended after a mere 72 days on Monday. A Twitter site for the Nets actually asked fans if Kardashian should give her gifts back?

But, a more interesting thing appears to be happening in the Kardashian family's ethnic homeland. Of course, it is perhaps fittingly ironic that I am mentioning this, since I am a Turkish-American, but the NPR show "The World" ran an amazing story on Tuesday by reporter Shanti Shahrigian about an effort to educate Armenian school children about the game of chess.

As it turns out, even though Armenia has a population of circa three million people, the country has some 30 chess grandmasters. Teacher Grigor Martikian is running the elementary school program, and so far it appears to be quite succesful.

I more or less quit playing chess after losing to an eight-year-old girl who was the reigning Virginia state champ in her age group, an incident which occured some ten years ago. That girl is probably old enough to vote now!

The Rabbit Ears Quiz (1 of 12)_ Wonder Woman

Today, we start our very first installment of "The Rabbit Ears Quiz" in which I will ask you the blog-viewer in the remote mountaintops of Bhutan various questions pertaining to television shows which I watched either during my childhood or early adolescence. In some cases, such as "Star Trek" or "Underdog," these shows may have actually before I was born.

But, that is not the case with "The New Adventures of Wonder Woman," which starred Lynda Carter, now age 60, who resides in suburban Maryland with her husband and family.

The show, which my sister and I watched a lot in reruns on those boring weekday afternoons when we were home from school in the late 1970s/early 1980s, originally aired on Nov. 7th of which of the following years?:

A) 1974
B) 1975
C) 1976
D) 1977
E) 1978

The answer actually surprised me a bit.

Carter is originally from Phoenix, and she is part-Mexican! According to Wikipedia, she told "US" magazine that she was disappointed that the show turned her into a sexual object.

The show that us kids just called "Wonder Woman" was based on the DC Comics Character of the same name (well, I think you knew that!). It aired for four years on two networks. The show was also very expensive to produce for its time and it lasted for 59 episodes, some of which you can apparently now watch for free on the Internet.

NBC apparently wanted to make a new Wonder Woman series, but they decided not to go through with production in May of this year. Ironically, NBC was the only one of the big three networks (at the time) which did not air the original series.

SIDEBAR: In an answer to our Road Trips Quiz, we believe (I alas misplaced the answer) that it takes B) 7 hours and 40 minutes to get from Lincoln, Nebr., to Madison, Wisc.

There is a great article entitled "The Shandy" by Akash Kapur in the current edition of "The New Yorker" which made me realize that a cow in India may not really be any luckier than a cow in Nebraska!

UPDATE: Oh good! It appears the image of Wonder Woman is back up; we have had technical difficulties with this entry!

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties

Perhaps, it was fitting something royally screwed up during the first draft of this entry as we were going to talk about computer fiascos I was having this weekend. We had come to a community library here in Bethesda, Maryland*, in the hopes that it would help us and somehow the computers here went kablooowe as well.

In case you were wondering, this image above is of a TRT (Turkish Radio Television) test pattern. We would regularly watch test patterns (I was born in America, but I lived Turkey, my late father's home country, for two years as a child from 1977-1979) before watching reruns of American tv programs like "Flipper," "Uzay 1999" ("Space 1999") and "Zaman Tuneli" ("The Time Tunnel").

Back in those days in Turkey, television only aired at certain times of the day (it was also only in black and white), and all of us kids were excited when "Flipper" came on circa 1:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoons. So my father who had hoped that being in a country where tv was less a part of the culture would mean I would be less excited by watching tv actually found out that I got even more hooked to the boob tube.

Interestinly enough, my favorite show I watched on American tv before and after we lived in Turkey was "Star Trek," and it aired as "Uzay Yolu" (which actually means Space Trek) a few years after we left Turkey.

Speaking of Turkey, we found out that Fenerbahce beat our beloved GalataSaray in Turkish soccer, yesterday. And, we are also not happy that West Virginia, featuring Turkish player Deniz Kilicli, lost to Kentucky by an 81-73 score earlier today. But, we hope Dogus Balbay and his Texas Longhorns teammates fare better when they play the Arizona Wilcats tomorrow in the NCAA men's baskebtall tournament.

CORRECTION: Earlier when we were making fun of radical Christian extremists (we realize not all Christians are this way even if they reside in Lynchburg, Va.), we were mistaken. We had thought that they were predicting the End of the World would be on May 21, 2001.

Since I am not in the know when it comes to far-out views of the world, I had assumed Judgment Day and the End of the World were one in the same. But, as it turns out, Judgment Day is actually 'supposed to happen' on May 21 and the End of the World as we know it will come on October 21.

This whole campaign was started by Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping, and it has even made for discussion board topics on atheist web sites and blogs!

SIDEBAR: The answer to our question about the distance between Logan, Utah, and Manhattan, Kansas, is B; they are exactly 15 hours apart.

*-We are not actually in Bethesda, Maryland, at the moment, but it is my favorite suburb in the United States!

Misadventures in Boulder

In case you were wondering if I had been abducted by a UFO, I was in Colorado visiting my sister last week and despite my best efforts I was unable to blog from there, which is perhaps a good thing!

Here are some highlights of the trip:

*I made all my flights, and only one delay the whole trip- that was in Chicago because of a broken windshield

*Went to Denver Art Museum and saw a kewl exhibit on sixties rock posters

*Watched "Easy Rider" with my sister and brother-in-law on Friday night to go along with the art exhibit......still hard to believe Dennis Hopper became a Republican though he did vote for Obama.

*Went to Boulder and shopped for gifts. Highly recommend the Boulder Bookstore and that funky place that has an assortment of Buddhist stuff.

*Went to a sock store in Estes Park. Got a friend some Denver Broncos socks. They didn't seem to have any NFL teams east of the Mississippi, but they have just about everything else.

* Ate sushi and other Japanese food

*Spent four hours at Zigi's coffee shop in Longmont where I read Scott Smith's thriller "The Ruins." Not exactly "Alice in Wonderland."

*Watched a pro lacrosse game, but alas the home team (the Denver Outlaws) lost.

*Saw the new Michael Caine film "Is Anybody There?," which was pretty good though it's a bit of a tear jerker

*Ate at a very good Vietnamese place in Boulder

*Saw "Star Trek." Quite good. Hard to believe Leonard Nimoy has now outlived my dead grandfather.

* Went hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, which was the highlight of the trip. My sister and I saw some sort of exotic wild bird there (probably a grouse) which was in pursuit of a lady friend......apparently, 'tis mating season.

*Saw lots of kewl Obama mercandise at Dulles (Washington, DC, airport) on the way, but alas no room in the luggage for anything else!

The trip had a few fiascos:

*-I actually lost one of my tennis shoes in the snow while hiking.

*-I actually lost shaving cream at the airport in Greensboro, which I knew not to pack!

*-I barely made it the returning flight out of Denver as security took a lot longer than I anticipated.

Quote of the Week- William Shatner....200th Entry

We are posting two quotes on our respective blogs (Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time being the other) with quotes from "Star Trek" actors in honor of the new "Star Trek" flick. We begin here with William Shatner:

"Captain Kirk has been a source of pleasure and income for a long time."