Top Ten Favorite Comic Strips from Sunday, Nov. 10th "Roanoke Times"_ Brutus Buckeye Wins the Day

Greeting to our friends in Azerbaijan, Cyprus and Dubai. For those of you live in places like Turku, Finland, or Perth, South Africa, you may be unaware that Sunday is the day when large color comi strips roll out across America.

While smaller newspapers like "The Roanoke Times" or "The Akron Beacon" (in Akron, Ohio) may not have as many comic strips as "The Denver Post" or "The Baltimore Sun," one never knows what gems might be found in any Sunday comic strips section.

This week, "Pearls Before Swine" had a hilarious take on Brutus Buckeye (pictured top) who is the mascot for Ohio State University, "Funky Winkerbean" featured a hilarious fake comic book character named Starbuck Jones (yeah, that's the reason for the image in the middle) and "Doonesbury" tarred and feathered the tea party, a fringe right-wing political movement in America which wants to turn America into what it once was: An Artic region covered with ice (we borrowed that from Steve Martin).

Here is our list of the top 10 comic strips from this week's Sunday "Roanoke Times":

1) Pearls Before Swine

2) Funky Winkerbean

3) Doonesbury

4) Zits

5) Speed Bump

6) Get Fuzzy

7) Agnes

8) Dilbert

9) Hi and Lois

10) Blondie

http://stephanpastis.wordpress.com/

http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-footbl/

http://www.funkywinkerbean.com/#

http://www.doonesbury.com

http://www.dilbert.com

Tour Dates_ The Oak Ridge Boys Are Coming to MB,SC

A few years ago, we had a tongue and cheek series called "The Political Confusion Test," and one of the most popular entries was one in which we suggested that if you like The Oak Ridge Boys, a '70s country band, over the Village People, a '70s disco group, you were probably a Republican.

But, we are putting political jokes aside for the moment as we noticed that the Oak Ridge Boys had recently passed through Virginia, my home state, where they performed in the Washington, DC-area, and Virginia Beach.

So, we thought we'd pass along some of their upcoming tour dates, which includes a stop at the Alabama Theatre in Myrtle Beach, SC. Interestingly enough, this weekend, they perform in Nevada, which voted for President Barack Obama last year:

March 29 Sparks, Nev. John Ascuaga's Nugget

March 31 Las Vegas, Nev. The Eastside Cannery

April 12 Warren, Pa. The Struthers Library Theatre

April 14 Newberry, SC Newberry Opera House

April 23-25 Branson, Mo. The Oak Ridge Boys Theatre

May 4 Myrtle Beach, SC The Alabama Theatre

Other Dates:

Aug 18 Louisville, Ky. Kentucky State Fair

Aug. 26 Pueblo, Colo. Colorado State Fair

http://www.oakridgeboys.com

http://www.visitmyrtlebeach.com

Tweets of the Day_ Politcs, Weather and Halloween Stuff

Earlier today, I overheard the following at a pancake house in the Roanoke, Va., metro area: "I got these great Swedish candies for Halloween, there are called Toberlone." Uhmm...just one problem, that's a Swiss candy! Those, I must profess, I didn't know how to spell the name of the Swiss chocolate candy until I googled it just now.

And, Happy Anniversary to us! This blog was launched four years ago today on Oct. 31st, 2008.

With that, let's look at the afternoon tweets:

1) (@occupywallst) Occupy Wall Street: "#OWS (Occupy Wall Street) rapid response to #Sandy shows importance of building network for mutual support. When government falls short, people stand tall."

2) @WSJ (Wall Street Journal): "Halloween is on hold for many kids in #Sandy's path as municipalities cancel  trick-or-treating."

3) @SheHasWorth (She Has Worth, a women's publication in California): "Happy Halloween! And remember you can still dress up cute without giving away your 'treats.'" (hmmm....yeah, we think there is a double-meaning there too).

4) @LOLGOP (LOL GOP, a liberal satirist): "You notice that for Halloween, I'm dressed up as a sluty elephant."

5) @TeaPartyCat (Top Conservative Cat, another liberal satirist): "The real victims of Hurricane Sandy are the pundits desperate for polling which has been postponed."

6) @Keswick_theatre (Keswick Theatre is a venue in Philadelphia): "Happy Halloween! What are you dressing up as this year? Anything music related?"

7) @RockyMtnMike (Rocky Mountain Mike, a radio personality in Vail, Colo.): "Happy Halloween! Mitt Romney Vampire Hunter."

8) @nprnews (NPR News): "If Dick Cheney's dogs can dress up for Halloween, so can you."

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

Spoecial Quote of the Day/Week- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Since all the public libraries in Rock Hill, SC*, where I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Jon Huntsman** at the same Golden Corral where Fred Thompson*** spoke four years ago, were closed yesterday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we are quoting the great Civil Rights leader today instead:

"A man can't ride your bak unless it's beat."

*- Not really where I am at

**- For those of you in Karachi, Pakistan, and other places far away from American shores, the former Utah governor dropped out of the Republican presidential race over the weekend.

***- This part is true, Fred Thompson did indeed have a rally at the Golden Corral in Rock Hill, SC, but he still didn't win the South Carolina Republican Primary.

Republican Humor- A Big Decision

Since I've decided to refrain from making political humor on Facebook in order to not trade barbs with life-long friends and Republicans, at least in the modern era, are such targets, I thought I would sock it to 'em here. And, there is my joke:


"Was thinking to myself today if I were on a desert island and all I was a 1970s black and white tv set with rabbitt ears and the only two channels I got were one with the Republican debate and one with a Three Stooges marathon, which one I would choose."

For the record, the next Republican debate will be held at Darthmouth College in Hanover, NH, on Oct. 11th at 8:00 p.m. The event will be televised and sponsored by Bloomberg News. Though I'm a fairly partisan Democrat, if I would choose from one of the 'Big Three' (Mitt Romney, who is pictured here, Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann), I would go with Romney. Though I agree with an assesment which I believe originated in "The Boston Phoenix" that he is about as authentic as a three-dollar bill!

As for The Three Stooges, the Independent Film Channel (IFC) has been showing their vintage 1950s shorts fairly often.

Status Update_ It's Been a Fairly Rotten Day

We were hoping to post a more interesting entry, but well even though at times, it looked like today might be an okay day, things just sort of fell apart. But, the highlight of the day was perhaps seeing an old Huckleberry Hound cartoon from 1961 on Boomerang where the blue dog with a Southern accent was in drag! He was trying to be Little Red Riding Hood in a cartoon that followed the plot of the age-old fairly tale which is supposedly about a girl coming to terms with her sexuality. But, we'll leave that up to English majors at Yale.

As for apples, the United States of America is the world's second leading producer of apples behind China. American apples account for 7.5 percent of the world market, according to Wikipedia.

While Michigan and Washington are known for apple production, there is quite an abundance of apples in my home state of Virginia, and my state of residency, which is North Carolina.

In Virginia, many apples can be found in the Shenandoah Valley, particularly around Winchester, which is the hometown of the late country-singing icon Patsy Cline. Each April, Winchester hosts the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival, which according to its web site brings in 250,000 visitors to the area each year. I remember one year when I attended, the crooner Pat Boone was one of the guests of honor, but I didn't get around to asking him why he was a right-wing nut (forgive the political humor).

In North Carolina, the town of Hendersonville, near Asheville in western North Carolina, is known for its apple farms.

The other leading producers of apples are Iran, Turkey and Russia.

Turkey is my late father's country, and I knew that the country produced many apples, but I did not realize Turkey was fourth in the world in apple production.

Many Turkish apples are produced around Amasya, which is in the central Black Sea region of Turkey, relatively close to the port city of Samsun.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day. In the worst case scenario, I can always play with the family cat.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Working in a Zoo

Today, we dedicate this latest special installment in our summer jobs edition of Silly Photos to Fill Space for those who are working at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, which is about 30 miles south of Winston-Salem, our feature city for the month of July.

The 5:00 whistle is about to blow here, so if you wanna find out more about the NC Zoo, go to their web site at www.nczoo.org

Love those elephants! (even though I'm a Republican).