Sunday, January 18, 2015

Our Favorite Strips from Sunday, Jan. 18th "Herald-Journal" (Spartanburg, SC)

Greetings to our blog readers in Moldova*, South Africa and Egypt.....

Normally, we list our favorite comic strips from  the Sunday editions of "The Washington Post" and "The Roanoke Times," the weekly newspaper in Roanoke, Va. But, today, we adding "The Herald-Journal," which is the local daily newspaper serving Spartanburg, SC, a city that is one and a half hours south of Charlotte, NC, and known for its BMW factory and race track.

Our top ten favorite comic strips from this Sunday's edition of that paper include "Bizarro," a single-panel comic strip in which a woman calls her neighbor to ask if the giant outside her home has gotten or if her house has gotten smaller. There is now a small house movement in many parts of the United States and perhaps in other countries as well (see top image).

It is sort of a running joke here on the blog that "Get Fuzzy" always finishes second, and that is the case today, with a strip poking fun of how lucky one can get playing a scratch lottery ticket (center image).

And, in third place, the single-panel comic strip "Close to Home" pokes fun of the process in which scientists name the latest medications, in this case, it is from taking the first three letters of their dogs' first names. (Prozac, an anti-depressant, is our bottom image).

Here is our top ten from "The Herald-Journal"

1) Bizarro

2) Get Fuzzy

3) Close to Home

4) Gasoline Alley

5) Snuffy Smith

6) Dustin

7) The Family Circus

8) Dilbert

9) Doonesbury

10) The Phantom

NOTE: This is the rare week when "The Family Circus" was funnier than "Doonesbury" or "Dilbert," that may not happen again until Haley's Comet returns to earth.

*- Yes, we have actually been getting hits from the former Soviet republic of Moldova lately!

http://www.goupstate.com

http://www.visitspartanburg.com/

http://www.sceducationlottery.com/ (not an endorsement)

http://smallhousesociety.net/

http://www.gocomics.com

http://bizarro.com/

Monday, January 12, 2015

Sunday Jan. 11th Washington Post Comics Survey: The Usual Suspects

Greetings to our blog readers in the former Yugoslav republic of Slovakia............hmm, we've been watching too much Fox News lately (just kidding, we know Slovenia is the country that was once part of Slovakia, and who has time for Fox News when there are "Green Acres" on reruns on TVLand).....

The images above are from 1) "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century," a kitschy science fiction tv show that aired on NBC circa 1980 (we are using as our image for 'Brewster Rockit'), 2) The Village People, which were at the center of the gag used in "The Argyle Sweater," and 3) A sea turtle for "Sherman's Lagoon," this week Sherman the shark had a visit with Fillmore the sea turtle where they discussed the weather, the government and the season premiere of "American Idol" (we are kidding, they actually talked about E-bay).

Here is our top ten:

1) Pearls Before Swine #

2) Brewster Rockit: Space Guy #

3) The Argyle Sweater #

4) Speed Bump #

5) WUMO #

6) Garfield (highest ranking ever in our WP survey) #

7. Prickly City #

8. Baldo (first-time entry in our survey) #

9. Sherman's Lagoon *

10. Knight Life #

#-Gocomics strips

*-Comics Kingdom strips

http://www.gocomics.com/

http://comicskingdom.com/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

Sunday, January 11, 2015

The Last Ten CDs We've Listened To: Nothing Goes Together Like Rush and The Go-Gos

For those of you in France, the land of Lucky Luke (who is called Red Kit in Turkish) and Asterix, we want to take a moment to remember the 17 people who senselessly lost their lives this week in various terrorist attacks across Paris, including the ten who were killed at Charlie Hebdo headquarters. Je Suis Charlie. Je Suis Ahmed. Of course, we are now realizing that using an image of a Volkswagen Beetle, a German car, instead of an image for a Fiat is perhaps a bad idea.

The images are of 1) the Canadian rock band Rush, 2) a postcard from Ocean City, Maryland, for the Go-Gos' album "Vacation," and 3) the VW bug for the band The Cars.

Here are the last ten cds we've listened to:

1. Interpol. Antics. 2004.

2. Rush. Signals. 1982.

3. The Go-Gos. Vacation. 1982.

4. Talking Heads. Remain in Light. 1980.

5. The Pretenders. Learning to Crawl. 1982.

6. The Cars. Candy-O. 1979.

7. The Rolling Stones. Let It Bleed. 1969.

8. Peter Gabriel. Us. 1992.

9. Frank Zappa. Waka/Jawaka. 1972.

10. Blur. 13. 1999.

http://www.gogos.com/

http://www.talking-heads.nl/

http://petergabriel.com/latest/


Saturday, January 10, 2015

Last Ten Songs We Heard on Steve-FM in Roanoke, Va. (on Jan.9th from 2:00-3:00 p.m.)

Here are the last ten songs we heard on 1061. Steve-FM (Roanoke, Va.) on Friday, Jan. 9th from 2:00-3:00 p.m.

The images are of 1) Billy Idol 2) an Australian kangaroo (for "Down Under") and Jack Nicholson from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (for "Let's Go Crazy)..........

1. Bang, Bang by Jessie J. 2014

2. Eyes without a Face. Billy Idol. 1984/1999*

3. Breakdown. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. 1976,

4. Down Under. Men at Work. 1981.

5. What a Girl Wants. Christina Aguilera. 1999.

6. If You Leave. OMD. 1986.

7. Rockin' Me. Steve Miller Band. 1976.

8. You Make My Dreams. Hall and Oates. 1981.

9. Home. Daughtry. 2007.

10. Let's Go Crazy. Prince and the Revolution. 1984

*-Digitally remastered in that year

http://www.1061stevefm.com

http://www.roanoke.com

http://www.roanokedoesntsuck.com

http://www.billyidol.net

Sunday, January 4, 2015

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

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Last Ten Songs We Heard on 98.7 Simon-FM in Greensboro, NC (from earlier in the week)

On Tuesday night (December 30th, 2014), we heard the following ten songs from 98.7 Simon-FM in Greensboro, NC, from the hour of 8:00-8:59 p.m. We are pressed for time, so let's get right to the list:



1) What's Going On. Marvin Gaye (pict. bottom) 1971

2) Money Talks. AC/DC. (pict. middle) 1990

3) Straight from the Heart. Bryan Adams. 1983.

4) Feel Like Making Love. Bad Company. 1973.

5) Tiger Suit. K.T. Tunstall. 2010.

6) All Right Now. Free. 1970.

7) Don't Dream (It's Over). Crowded House. 1986.

8) Cherry Pie. Warrant. 1990

9) Could You Be Loved. Bob Marley (pict. top). 1980.

10) Don't Know What You Got ('Till It's Gone). Cinderella. 1988

www.987simon.com

www.yesweekly.com

www.visitgreensboronc.com 

Friday, January 2, 2015

Top Ten Comic Strips from Sunday Dec. 28th Washington Post

Greetings to our blog readers in Singapore, Nepal and Taiwan..........

This week, we look at our top ten favorite Sunday comic strips from "The Washington Post;" once again, Stephan Pastis did brilliant work for "Pearls Before Swine," a comic strip which only ran in a few newspapers when it first started and is now even in "The News and Advance" in Lynchburg, Va. (we love making fun of Lynchburg here at 'The Daily Vampire').....In the latest Sunday strip, Pastis has Goat telling his mutual frenemy Rat that he can in his house as his house if getting painted. SPOILER ALERT: But, Goat has so many attached conditions that Rat just decides to check into a hotel anyway, hence the reason we have an image of an old motel postcard from Joplin, Missouri (top image). "Pearls" wins this week's comics survey for this amazing strip.

In a close second, we have "Lio" where the little boy who is the title character attempts to return a dragon in a long line for Christmas returns at some Sears or Target or Wal-Mart or Best Buy (you get the joke, I hope)......btw, a dragon from Wales is featured here in our middle image...

In third place, Scott Hilburn's "The Argyle Sweater" ponders what would happen if a fisherman working for Red Lobster found one of Spongebob Squarepants' friends (bottom image)....

Here is our top ten, that we are typing up as we listen to Peter Gabriel's great 1992 album "Us" which would listen to more of instead of vegging out to Billy Idol (forgive the Gen X humor)....

1. Pearls Before Swine

2. Lio

3. The Argyle Sweater

4. Foxtrot

5. WUMO

6. Dustin

7. Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

8. Reply All

9. Sherman's Lagoon

10. Prickly City

For this week's "Roanoke Times" comic strips survey, go to our sister blog's link here: http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/comics/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/

http://www.gocomics.com/

http://comicskingdom.com/

http://www.visitmo.com/