Comic Strip Grand Slam (2 of 4): Be Aware of Ticks When You Go on a Picnic

Greetings again, for today's entry, we take a look at the Sunday comic strips as published in the June 15th issues of "The Washington Post," which has amazingly remained in tact since Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos took over the newspaper a few months ago.

Some of our favorites this week included the Danish import "WUMO" which made fun of animal rights PETA activists going for an outdoor picnic and not being allowed to go after wasps, hornets or ticks (pictured above), which might be enough to make one not take a picnic at Hawks Nest Park in West Virginia.

"The Argyle Sweater" took a great swipe at American cowboys who were called Texas Strangers (as opposed to Texas Rangers, no we're not talking about the baseball team).

"Speed Bump" imagined Superman taking a vacation, while "Dustin" showed a dispute over who gave a famous quote (Winston Churchill or Mark Twain). Meanwhile, "Reply All" showed what can happen when a hipster chick decides to let her thoughts drift during a yoga class while "Brewster Rockit" showed the consequences of a stupid mistake in outer space.

Lastly, Keith Knight provided a wonderful Father's Day strip in "Knight Life"  as he showed an unusual way to reassure little boys that there are no monsters under the bed.

Here is our top ten:

1. WUMO

2. The Argyle Sweater

3. Speed Bump

4. Dustin

5. Reply All

6. Brewster Rockit

7. Knight Life

8. Sherman's Lagoon

9. Lio

10. Prickly City

http://www.gocomics.com/wumo

http://www.gocmocis.com/speedbump

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

Father's Day Kitsch

This is basically a complementary entry to my tribute to my father Methmet Gokbudak
(1921-1983) and my second stepfather Donald Sullivan (1918-2003), two men I always remember on Father's Day.

When my mom recently relocated, I came across two vinyl records that I will always associate with dad and Donald.

One is a collection called "German Beer Drinking Music" which was recorded in Germany by Hans Braun and his chorus. I tried to find information about the record on the Internet which was to no avail. Shockingly enough, Diplomat Records in Newark, NJ, which made the record happens to be the name of a rap music label that was founded in 2002! Though I can not confirm when the record was released (my guess is 1962), there was an image of the album and a web site was offering to sell the record for $9.99.

More information was available regarding "The Fading Giant," a recording of steam engines made for O. Winston Link Railway Productions. The record was made in 1958 in conjunction with Link's famous photographs of trains in places like Roanoke, Va. (my hometown), Bristol,Va/Tenn. (there are two Bristols in two neighboring state which border each other), Rural Retreat, Va. and Welch, WVa.

The photographs taken by Link (1914-2001) became quite famous, especially in Europe and there is now an O. Winston Link Museum, housing many of his famous photographs, in Roanoke.

Donald was very fascinated with both trains and airplanes whereas my father was more into bicycles and his Porche.

I suppose all of us are defined by our favorite modes of transportation. I find the old slow boats in Istanbul, Turkey, where my father grew up to be very fascinating though it always seems like the boat to the Princess Islands will NEVER reach Kinali Island, the small island that is the first stop on the way to Buyukada, the largest of the four Princess Islands.

But, ultimately, I most fascinated by buses. I recently saw an abandoned passenger bus marked Knoxville, Tenn., on Route 220 near Martinsville, Va. I wondered what its' journey was, and how the bus ended up being left along a road that is some five and a hours away from its origin.

Happy Father's Day from Fred MacMurray

Since today is Father's Day, we are taking a break from The World Cup to present you with a quote from the late, great Fred MacMurray (1908-1991) who starred in "My Three Sons," which ran from 1960-1972 and in reruns until probably 1984 (and, then again on TV Land).

"The two films I did with Billy Wilder, Double Indemnity and The Apartment, were the only two parts I did that required any acting."

I guess if it's not too late, those of you living in Athens, Ga., can take dad out for a burrito at The Taco Stand on E. Broad Street, but if you tell them I sent you, they'll have no idea what you're talking about (especially since I don't actually live there!).

Happy Father's Day

I have about 20 neckties myself. My personal favorite has to be the Batman tie, though a cool Jerry Garcia tie comes in a close second.

Happy Father's Day to everyone or as they say in Turkish: "Babalar Gunu Kutlu Olsun."