Top Ten Comic Strips from The Sunday Roanoke Times.........yes, Pearls wins again

Stephan Pastis, the man who created Ataturk the Spitting Llama (thanks ok, us Turkish-Americans know our yogurt is better than Greek yogurt), once again wins our sweepstakes with his "Pearls Before Swine" trip in which a family trip to Key West, Fla, to go whale watching takes a Twilight Zone episode turn, which is, of course, hilarious.

"Get Fuzzy" was second as Bucky, Rob Wilco's out of control Siamese cat, goes on a rant about how a kid who has memorized Pi is not really smart of be interviewed on network television.

And, a cat was also featured in "Dilbert" where the title character was curiously absent. Here the cat gives personal advice to Dilbert's boss on how to seem caring around employees since he is a man incapable of empathy.


Here is the top ten from the Sunday "Roanoke Times:"

1. Pearls Before Swine

2. Get Fuzzy

3. Dilbert

4.Doonesbury

5. Garfield

6. Funky Winkerbean

7. Zits

8. Speed Bump

9. Agnes

10. Blondie


http://www.roanoke.com

http://www.gocomics/getfuzzy

http://www.stephanpastis.wordpress.com

http://www.dilbert.com

http://www.whalewatching.com

http://www.mainewhales.com


http://www.fla-keys.com

http://www.newport-news.org  (Newport News, Va., is said to be a good place for whale watching)

7 Words in Norwegian (7 of 7): Shrimp

Today, we conclude our 7 Words in Norwegian series with the word for shrimp.

Greetings to our blog visitors from Denmark, Egypt and Greece. Since I'm half-Turkish, I should point that Turkish shrimp is much better than Greek shrimp (forgive the ethnic humor).

We gather that Key West, Florida, which is a city that Ernest Hemingway and Jimmy Buffett made famous, is a good place in America to dine on shrimp.

So, here is the answer.........

shrimp=reker

(I don't actually speak Norwegian, but Google and Bing have been a great help to us).

For the Turkish word for shrimp, check out our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" and the 7 Words in Turkish series: http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

http://www.margaritaville.com (Jimmy Buffett's web site).

Quote of the Day/Week- Ernest Hemingway

Today's quote of the day comes from American writer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) who once lived in Ketchum, Idaho, where it is apparently at least 100 degrees F, for the third or fourth consecutive day in a row. Hemingway, who penned such classics as "The Old Man and the Sea" and "The Sun Also Rises" also lived in Key West, Florida, and in Cuba, of course, he resided there before the revolution started by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.

Hemingway has been in many recent films, most notably Woody Allen's film "Midnight in Paris," where he was played by Corey Stoll, 36, (pictured) whose performance was critically acclaimed, but did not garner an Oscar nomination. Christopher Plummer, 82, won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar this year for his remarkable performance in "Beginners."

Here is Hemingway's quote:

"I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eights of it under water for every part of it that shows."

SIDEBAR: Since the 2012 London Olympics get underway later this month, we thought we'd mention one of the athletes from North Carolina, one of our states of residence (the other one is not Maine, though we love it up there!). Cullen Jones, 28, from Charlotte and a North Carolina State University alum, will be competing for Team USA in men's swimming. Jones holds the world record in the 50-meter free-style. He won gold during the 2008 Beijing Olympics in a team relay, which included the much-decorated athlete Michael Phelps. Jones was also the first African-American to win gold in swimming.

http://www.hemingwayhouse.com

http://www.gopack.com

http://www.cullenjones.com

Special Quote of the Week- Ernest Hemingway

Today's quote of the day is from Ernest Hemingway (1835-1910), the great American novelist who penned such classics such as "The Sun Also Rises," "Old Man and the Sea," "A Farewell to Arms," and many other books we should read.

Hemingway's house, which is a museum in Key West, Fla, is apparently quite the tourist destination though it might be a bit of a haul from places like Wasilla, Alaska, Provo, Utah, Billings, Montana, and other places we like to make fun of (actually we hear Billings* is quite happening, and Hemingway did spend some time in Idaho though right now we don't have time to see exactly when that was and as it is, we've borrowed enough info from Wikipedia on this blog).

Here is his quote; I wonder if Dr. Seuss was ever made aware of Hemingway's sentiment:

"A man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book."

*- Billings, Mont., is home to the historic Carlin Hotel built in 1910.