Comic Strips Dialogue: We Quote Pickles

Three years ago, we used to take dialogue from comic strips and put them in order to make a full conversation. We are using an image of the play "Defending the Caveman" for the comic strip "B.C." Similarly, we are using the Northside High School (Roanoke, Va.) logo for "Hagar the Horrible," who is also a Viking. And, lastly, we using sinks from a Turkish bathroom for the line we are using from the comic strip "Take It from the Tinkersons."

Here we go (Don't Try This at Home or On Your Blog...it's time-consuming):

1. "Mmmm! Something sure smells good!" (Pickles, Aug. 2nd)

2. "Let me give you a cooking lesson." (Baldo, Aug. 2nd)

3. "Go away. I already beat you once!" (B.C., July 19th)

4. "Try to relax! Focus on your peaceful surroundings! Don't think about work!" (Hagar the Horrible, Aug. 2nd)

5. "Hey, I know real people!" (Garfield, July 19th)

6. "You're a Bob Dylan fan, right Cosmo?" (Shoe, July 19th)

7. "Wow! Talk about false advertising." (Adam at Home, May 3rd)

8. "Diner was marvelous, mom." (Hi and Lois, May 3rd)

9. "I........Have to Go to the Bathroom" (Take it from the Tinkersons, May 3rd)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

http://www.denverpost.com/comics

http://www.comicskingdom.com

http://www.gocomics.com

Last Ten CDs We've Listened To: There's a Bob Dyland Album Here

Greetings to our visitors from Macedonia, Canada and Taiwan.........

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

1) Psychedelic Furs. "Mirror Man." 1984.

2) Peter, Bjorn and John. Writer's Block. 2006 (top image)

3) REM. Monster. 1994. (middle image)

4) Tom Waits. The Heart of Saturday Night. 1974.

5) The Replacements. Don't Tell a Soul. 1989.

6) Talking Heads. Speaking in Tongues. 1983. (bottom image)

7) Bob Dylan. Blood on the Tracks. 1975.

8) Serge Gainsbourg. Historie de Melody Nelson. 1971 (in French).

9) David Bowie. Heroes. 1977.

10) The Police. Regatta de Blanc. 1979.

Quote of the Day/Week-Walter Mondale

Today, we are continuing our series of quotes from American vice presidents, or veeps, with a quip from Walter Mondale who served under President Jimmy Carter. Mondale, 84, also ran for president against Ronald Reagan in 1984, but he was only able to win his home state of Minnesota. I was only 14 years old at the time, but I wanted to vote for Mondale. But, my home state of Virginia did not become a swing state until 2008, and by that time, I had moved to North Carolina.

Here is Mondale's quote:

"If you are sure you understand everything that is going on, you are hopelessly confused."

Another one of Minnesota's favorite sons Bob Dylan is celebrating his birthday today.

From the Record Collection (7 of 8) Devo "Freedom of Choice"

Today, we feature the third studio album from the Akron, Ohio-based punk band Devo, which is "Freedom of Choice."

The record features the band's signature song "Whip It," which features a video with the band wearing hats that look like flower pots. Amazingly enough, Devo, a band known for covering songs of other bands ("I Can't Get No Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones; "Gotta Serve Somebody" by Bob Dylan), were covered by Pearl Jam when they performed "Whip It" on stage complete with the flower pot hats and the yellow raincoats, that Devo is known for.

They Might Be Giants also covered the song "Through Being Cool," which is not on "Freedom of Choice."

The members of Devo are two sets of brothers, Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, and Gerald and Bob Casale. It may seem startling today, but the industrial city of Akron, Ohio, was a thriving place for New Wave punk bands, including Devo, in the 1980s.

One of the other famous bands from the area during this era was The Waitresses, which is best-known for the holiday punk classic "Christmas Wrapping."

Chrissie Hynde, the lead singer of The Pretenders, is also from Akron and has even lived there in recent years though her band actually formed in London where Hynde was living abroad in the late '70s.

The name Devo comes from the term 'de-evolution,' which states that man is regressing back to the caveman years rather than moving forward.

Among the catchy tunes on "Freedom of Choice" are "Girl U Want," which is about how difficult it is to really be with the girl you want and the title track which is about the contradiction between rigid American conformity and the possibilities one should have in a free society. The song is made more ironic because it came out the same year that Ronald Reagan, arguably the poster boy for modern political conservatism in America, was elected president.

The album was recorded at Record Plant in Los Angeles, and produced by Robert Margouleff, who had produced many Stevie Wonder records.

In 2009, Devo re-released both "The Freedom of Choice" and their debut record "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo" and toured performing both albums in their respective entirety.

From the Record Collection (5 of 8) Bob Dylan "Slow Train Coming"

It is nice to see we are popular in Slovenia_ of all places, so we send out special greetings to those of you in Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital. We also wish to extend greetings to folks in Nassau, The Bahamas, and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. We gather the weather is slightly nicer in the Caribbean island nation.

Today, in our "From the Record Collection" series, we feature Bob Dylan's 19th studio record "Slow Train Coming" (1979). Last year, we found a used copy of the record at All Day Records in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC.

"Slow Train Coming" was Dylan's first record since becoming a born-again Christian. Dylan was raised as a Jew in Minnesota. Spirituality is exemplified through the record with songs like "Gotta Serve Somebody," "Precious Angel" and "The Animals," which alludes to Noah's Ark.

The axe used by a rail worker on the album cover is shaped like a crucifix as is the sailboat, which is used in the photograph of the back cover.

We could not establish how long the born-again period lasted for Dylan, or if he still views the world from that prism, though spirituality does seem to come up frequently in recordings made after 1979.

The many aspects of Dylan's life made for a great art film by Todd Haynes, "I'm Not There" (2007) which includes a remarkable performance from Australian actress Cate Blanchett who plays Dylan herself!

"Slow Train Coming" was a major commercial success, and "You Gotta Serve Somebody" was Dylan's first major hit in three years.

Of his conversion to Christianity, Dylan said that an image of Jesus Christ came to him while he was staying in a hotel room in Tucson, Arizona.

The record also features Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits on guitar on many of the album's key tracks.

Quote of the Week- Frank Zappa

Along with the likes of John Waters, the late rock musician Frank Zappa (1940-1993) was one of Baltimore's favorite sons. Until we quoted John Lennon today on our sister blog, I did not realize that both singers were born in 1940, a year before Bob Dylan who turned 70 last week.

Frank Zappa's son Dweezil Zappa leads a tribute band called Zappa Plays Zappa. They will perform at The Klein in Bridgeport, Conn., on July 29. Zappa's other celebrity offspring include Moon Unit Zappa and Ahmet Zappa.

Here is a quote from Frank Zappa, which we may well have used the last and only time we quoted him before now, but it is such a good one that it bears repeating here:

"Stupidity is the basic building block of the universe."

Special Quote from Tom Stoppard

Since we were in Washington, DC, last week, we thought we'd share this quip from Tom Stoppard (b. 1937) as one of his earliest plays "The Real Inspector Hound" (1968) is being performing by Metro Stage of Alexandria, Va., until May 29 (which is Sunday).

The one-act murder mystery set in an English mansion, may sound like a Scooby-Doo episode (the animated cartoon which maintains a large following was coinceindentally written around the time o Stoppard's play) examines the roles of fate and free will, according to Wikipedia, and who are we to argue with them?!

Here is the quip:

"Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean where's it all going to end?"

SIDEBAR: I saw that Mill Mountain Coffee, which has four locations in the Roanoke, Va.-area (my hometown) has a sign which says "No Soup for You" for Saturday and Sunday as they don't serve soup over the weekend. I thought it was an interesting way of borrowing a phrase that became hip in the 19990s, though I wonder if customers who are older than Bob Dylan (he turned 70 over the weekend) might this rude and obnoxious. But, Mill Mountain does serve lobster bisque soup at some point during the week. I imagine there are recipes in "Good Housekeeping" and perhaps even back issues of "Down East" (a Maine travel magazine).

Quote of the Week- Bob Dylan

"A poem is a naked person.....some people say I'm a poet."

Quote of the Week- Bob Dylan

We quoted Bob Dylan on our other blog "The Daily Vampire" last week, and we decided to do the same thing here this week since he has a new holiday cd called "Christmas in the Heart," his 47th record, available in stores now.

I originally got the idea to quote Dylan because of a wonderful painting of him that I saw at the Back Street Buzz Coffee House in Reidsville, NC.

This weekend, I found out that through the NPR show "Sound Opinions" that Dylan has released a new album. Alas, the show said the cd is not particularly good, though I feel guilty about revealing that here since sales from the release, which includes the new single "Must Be Santa," are going to the Feeding America charity.

But, I have not heard the record myself and we certainly commend Dylan for contributing to a generous cause.



Here is this week's quote:

"A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do."