Top Ten Comics from Sunday, Jan. 25th Washington Post: Tough Competition

Greetings to our blog readers in New Zealand, France and Lithuania.

For the Sunday, Jan.5th edition of "The Washington Post," our favorite comic strip was "Brewster Rockit: Space Guy," followed by "Sherman's Lagoon" and the Danish import "WUMO," which made fun of pug dogs.

We don't have images of pugs, but we do have these: 1) "The Jetsons" (for "Brewster Rockit," which is a satirical science fiction comic strip); 2) the late Freddie Mercury of Queen (for "Knight Life," in which cartoonist Keith Knight admits that he can't get "Bohemian Rhapsody" out of his skull" and 3) a hermit crab for "Sherman's Lagoon."


Here is our top ten:

1) Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

2) Sherman's Lagoon

3) WUMO

4) Knight Life

5) Reply All

6) Doonesbury

7) Lio

8) Dustin

9) Speed Bump

10) Prickly City

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/ (a comic strip blog from "The Washington Post" from Michael Cavna)

http://comicskingdom.com/

http://www.gocomics.com/explore/comics

Last Ten Songs We've Listened To on Steve-FM in Roanoke, Va: Everything Except Kenny G

Greetings to our fans in Sweden, Croatia, Ukraine, Egypt and Greece (kudos on your new prime minister.........). Now that we have perhaps officially entered the world of The Jetsons (but, where are the flying cars?), it is actually possible for people in Anchorage, Alaska, and Bucharest, Romania, to listen to an eclectic pop-rock fusion radio station in Roanoke, Va.

So, with that in mind, here are the last ten songs we heard on 106.1 (SteveFM-Raonoke, Va) from the 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. hour on Friday afternoon. These songs are in reverse order:

1) Dark Horse. Katy Perry. 2013.

2) Keep on Loving You. REO Speedwagon. 1980 (pict. bottom)

3) Bohemian Rhapsody. Queen. 1975.

4) Never. Heart. 1985.

5) Clocks. Coldplay. 2002 (pict. center)

6) Janie's Got a Gun. Aerosmith. 1989. (pict, top)

7) Your Smiling Face. James Taylor. 1977.

8) Tainted Love. Soft Cell. 1981.

9) Moves Like Jagger. Maroon 5. 2011.

10) Hold on Loosely. 38 Special. 1981.

http://www.1061stevefm.com

http://www.visitroanoke.com

http://www.roanokedoesntsuck.com

http://www.aerosmith.com

http://www.speedwagon.com

Chuck Norris vs. Cuneyt Arkin- Turkish Star Wars

Known of "Cuneyt baba" (Father Cuneyt) or "Cuneyt abi' (Big Brother Cuneyt), Cuneyt Arkin is a legendary cinematic icon in Turkey; of course, one should point out that there are valid reasons why he has never won a Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

We are continuing our series, which has a matching entry featuring Arkin's counterpart Chuck Norris, at our other blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com in which we look at which actors actually won Best Actor Oscars during the years that these actors made some of their most famous films.

The answer to our last entry is Dustin Hoffman who won in 1979 for "Kramer vs. Kramer," needless to say neither Norris or Arkin were nominated.

Today, we are asking which actor won Best Actor in 1982, the year Arkin made "Dunyayi Kurtaran Adami/The Man Who Saved the World," which is best-known as "The Turkish Star Wars" in the West since it ripped off the George Lucas film, and it also borrowed Queen's theme song from "Flash Gordon." Copyright laws are now more rigorous in Turkey.


So, is the answer?:

A) Michael Caine

B) Ben Kingsley

C) Paul Newman

D) Dustin Hoffman

E) Peter O'Toole

http://www.chucknorris.com

http://www.cuneytarkin.com.tr/

From the Album Collection (3 of 8)_ Queen's "The Game"

Today's album feature of the day is Queen's "The Game" (1980), which features two number-one hit singles in "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love."

The British band consisted of the late Freddie Mercury (1946-1991; lead vocals and guitar), Brian May (quitar), Roger Taylor (drums) and John Deacon (bass).

Deacon wrote the lyrics for "Another One Bites the Dust," and though Queen is most well-known today for their earlier song "Bohemian Rhapsody," it was actually "Another One Bites the Dust" that became the band's biggest hit as it sold seven million copies.

Christian fundamentalists went on to accuse Queen of having a backwards message on "Another Bites the Dust," in which they allege the band is telling listeners to: 'decide to smoke marijuana.' Interestingly enough, Queen does have a PSA song on "The Game" which is called "Don't Try Suicide" (the song was not relased as a single).

"Crazy Little Thing Called Love," a rockabilly tune which differed Queen's other songs artistically, also became a huge chart-topper and the song was a regular part of the band's lineup up until the last days of the original lineup.

After this record, which also contained "Play the Game" and "Need Your Loving Tonight," Queen went on to record the soundtrack for "Flash Gordon" and the single "Under Pressure" with David Bowie.

Mercury died of complications from AIDS at age 45 in 1991. While researching this piece, we were surprised to find out that there is a statue of Mercury overlooking Lake Geneva in Montreaux, Switzerland.

A recent issue of "Rolling Stone" ranked May, who has a doctorate in astrophysics, as the 26th best guitar player of all time. The magazine cited his work on the single "Keep Yourself Alive" (not on "The Game") as some of his best work.

Quoting William Shakespeare (1 of 5)

For those of you who have actually read both of my blogs today (people in Slovenia are actually reading this?!; ok!) if you look closely this is not the same William Shakespeare bobblehead doll that I used on "The Daily Vampire."

As it is, we are quoting the Bard on Thursdays this month. Interestingly enough, the last time we referenced Shakespeare on this blog was regarding CliffsNotes. Hopefully, young people will go that route rather than merely digging up stuff from Wikipedia. It's ironic that modern technology has made some previous classroom taboos, such as reading CliffsNotes, more acceptable in this modern age.

And, with that said here is our quote from Shakespeare, and for the record, I think he really wrote his plays:

"An overflow of good converts to bad."

Currently, a stage production of the Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol" is being performed by the North Carolina Shakespeare Company at the High Point Theatre, which is in (of course) High Point, NC.

A production of the same play is being performed by Triad Stage in nearby Greensboro; the two companies are separate from each other.

SIDEBAR: Since today is World AIDS Day, well it is late at night now everywhere except perhaps Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, I thought I would post an appreciation to the late Freddie Mercury, who was the lead singer of the pioneering
'70s and '80s rock band Queen. Mercury died 20 years ago of AIDS complications at age 45 on November 24th, 1991.

The band's most famous song (well, arguably) "Bohemian Rhapsody" become a popular hit again shortly after Mercury's death as it was used in the movie "Wayne's World."

Domestically, AIDS has hit many cities hard, especially Washington, DC, and New Orleans. And, many countries in Africa, including South Africa and Tanzania have dealt with AIDS epidemics.

SIDEBAR 2: The answer to our Rabbit Ears Quiz question from earlier in the week is
C) $199. Yes, this is what a "Land of the Lost" lunchbox from the early '70s is reportedly worth!

Quote of the Day- Tarkan

We conclude our month-long series on quotes from famous Turkish people past and present with a quip from Tarkan, the pop mega-star, who has sold millions of records not only in Turkey, but also in Argentina, Germany, France, Greece and just about every place else except the United States. He is best-known for songs like "Simarik," "Dudu" and "Kuzu Kuzu."

The fact that he usually sings in Turkish has a lot to do with this, though on the advice of the late, great Turkish-American record producer Ahmet Ertegun, Tarkan did try to sing some songs in English. And, alas, it did sound like William Shatner's ("Star Trek"'s original Captain Kirk, for those of you born after Bush 41 was president) version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhadsopy," which is in record stores now (we are actually not making that up!).



Here is Tarkan's quote:

"Dancing and singing are always like games to me. I sang constantly."