Top Ten Comic Strips from the Sunday Washington Post: The Post-Mother's Day Hangover

Greetings to our blog readers in Algeria, Sweden and the Czech Republic.....


Today, we post our top ten favorite comic strips from today's "Washington Post" which includes a little kid losing a battle with the printer from hell ("Lio"), a kid demanding macaroni and cheese at all costs ("Candorville"), and a stubborn Obi Wan Kenobi (pict. bottom) holding out on the clarinet in an orchestra with other "Star Wars" characters ("The Argyle Sweater"). Perhaps, Benny Goodman, the late clarinetist from yesteryear would be proud.

Other highlights included a millennial female deciding to wear yoga pants for all occasions ("Reply All"), a fabulous drawing of an octopus by James Allen ("Mark Trail") and Scott Santis taking a funny cheap shot at those of us who are progressive ("Prickly City"). The guy who does the right-wing comic strip "Mallard Fillmore" was perhaps quite amused.

Here is our top ten:

1. Candorville http://www.gocomics.com/candorville

2. Lio http://www.gocomics.com/lio

3. The Argyle Sweater

4. Reply All http://www.gocomics.com/replyall

5. Mark Trail

6. Speed Bump

7. Pearls Before Swine

8. WuMo

9. Prickly City

10. Sherman's Lagoon

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

http://www.denverpost.com/comics

Things To Do List: Go the Car Wash

Here is the latest entry in our semi-regular Things To Do List, yes, there are actually more important things we need to do, but we don't feel the need to disclose those publicly:

1. Listen to WUVT (90.7-FM), the student-run radio station of Virginia Tech

2. Wash car...........and, the clean the inside...........then, clean the trunk

3. Yoga?!

4. Recycle

5. Wash Dishes (of course)

6. Go the opera (the reason for the middle image, though we are not going to see 'Otello')

7. Watch the three episodes of "Mad Men" that you've taped

8. Wear the Batman tie; it could possibly help you with girls

9. Go through the comic books and price them

10. Possibly give money to local PBS station to prevent it from going blank (yes, that's the reason for the TRT_ Turkey Radio Television_ test pattern)

http://www.wuvt.vt.edu

http://bikramyogabethesda.com/

http://www.lyricopera.org/

http://www.unctv.org/content/

http://www.trt.net.tr/anasayfa/anasayfa.aspx

The links are for 1) WUVT-(90.7 FM); 2) Bikram Yoga Center in Bethesda, Maryland (near Wash. DC); 3) The Lyric Opera Company of Chicago which is performing "Oklahoma"?! in May; 4) WUNC-TV, the public television station for all of North Carolina; 5) The official site for the TRT which is in Turkish, of course!

Comic Strip Dialogue- Strike a Pose

Wowza! We had lots of tech glitches trying to get this entry posted. We should point out that the yoga pose image above is in reference to a line from yesterday's "Reply All," which like most of the lines used here came from a comic strip in the Sunday, Dec. 2nd edition, of "The Washington Post:"

1) "I want you to take the trash out!" (from "Zits")

2) "Did you get my text Santa?" (from "Blondie")

3) "Walk it in and rise up as you release the breath of a new start." (from "Reply All," said by a yoga instructor).

4) "We're leaving in a few hours, Sam! I'll be in Toronto tomorrow!" (from "Judge Parker")

5) "I saw you on the news!" (from "The Amazing Spiderman")

6) "Would you like paper or plastic?" (from "Dustin")

7) "Good thing I was born with no apparent purpose in life." (from "Sherman's Lagoon," said by a shark).

8) "I was worried about you," (from "Hagar the Horrible")

9) "Some guys just shouldn't enter spelling bees." (from "Pearls Before Swine.")

10) "Table Scraps?! Well I Never!" (from "Peanuts," said by Snoopy).

11) "Carpe Diem!" (from "Prickly City.).

12) "I've beeb following you on Facebook. You have a lot to explaining to do," (from "Duplex," said by Santa Claus).

13) "Whatcha doin'?" (from "Knight Life")

14) "I think I need to take the car for a tune-up." (from "Hi and Lois.").

15) "Now what were you telling me about distractions?" (from "The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee.")

http://www.replyallcomic.com

http://www.edisonlee.net

http://www.knightlifecomic.com

http://www.slagoon.com

Image to Fill Space-Power Yoga

Ever since we heard the term power yoga, we thought it was a bit of an oxy moron as the term yoga usually conjures up images of people relaxing and trying to 'strike a pose.' (We don't think Madonna can sue us for that).

But, it seems to be becoming very popular at health clubs around the country, from San Francisco to Provo, Utah. Having tried this once myself, I must advice beginners to try regular yoga first.

There is a yoga retreat called Yogaville in the rural hamlet of Buckingham, Va. (some 30 miles south of Charlottesville in central Virginia), for those you really want to practice yoga away from modern distractions, without going to Sri Lanka.

www.yogajournal.com

www.yogamagazine.com

www.yogaville.org

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Pilates

Today, we continue our summer jobs series with a look at the field of yoga/pilates instructors (well, I suppose one would be quite talented to be able to do both!).

Our feature city is Trenton, NJ, and as it happens the suburb of Medford, NJ, which we hope is a Trenton 'burb, offers both yoga and pilates classes at The Yoga Center of Medford, including a pilates mat class from 8-9:00 a.m. on Saturday.

Those of you residing in that area can call the center at 609-654-9400 for more info than what we can provide here.

But, we can tell you that pilates was developed by Joseph Pilates of Germany around World War I. 11 million Americans practice pilates, which is usually done barefoot or with special pilates shoes (we can not make this stuff up!).

The aim of the exercise is to strengthen and develop torso muscles and breathing techniques. It is said to be a great exercise for pregnant women.

UPDATE: Ay Karumba! We forgot to mention our High School of the Week when we posted this a few hours ago. The school is Belgrade High School in Belgrade, Mont. We choose Belgrade because we chose a Serbian beer (Belgrade is the Serbian capital) for our 50 Beers Around the World entry on Sunday.

Of course, high school students shouldn't drink beer, but they probably couldn't find that brew anywhere in Montana any how!

The nickname for Belgrade High School is the Panthers. It was 74 degrees in Belgrade, Mont., yesterday. We have no idea what the weather is like there today.

We would like to blame the oversight on Joe Murphy, the intern for "Yes Weekly" in Greensboro, NC, but he not only does nothing for us, but he also has no idea who we are!

SIDEBAR: My good friend Jason Garnett is showing several cool movies at The Shadowbox Cinema, his micro-cinema in downtown Roanoke, Va., this month. They include the vintage French New Wave musical "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1966) with a very young and very hot Catherine Denevue. She once said that women who kill have issues with their fathers. Hmmmmm.......?! That screening takes place on Aug. 25, and admission is five dollars.

Additionally, The Shadowbox will screen the 1931 Charlie Chaplin classic "City Light" on Aug. 27. "Caddyshack," a movie celebrating its 30th anniversary, on Aug. 28 and the ever demented Japanese shock horror film "Audition" on Aug. 30. Bring your kimonos!

Prices and showtimes vary. Check the cinema's web site theshadowboxcinema.com for more info.

Silly Photo to Fill Space

At first glance, one might assume this photo is an example of American zaniness, but amazingly enough this photo of a doga class (yoga with dogs) was apparently taken in Brisbane, Australia. I took some yoga classes here in North Carolina and in Roanoke, Va., a few years ago. My poses were quite limited though! (and, no I did not bring Mitzi the family dog).