Every TV station (and Dave FM) was doing it, so we here at honeygarlic decided to follow suit - and honeygarlic.blogspot.com is now in HIGH DEFINITION!
Not really.
The comic strips I posted over the last two articles are larger than the original size of our page, and look crappy when resized. So I compensated by making the blog wider (and I have no idea how I did it, since I don't understand whatever advanced HTML or other language our blog is published in). Once the comics are off the front page, I'll move us back down to our original size. Yes, this post is mainly to get the comics one step closer to the oblivion that is our old posts.
--Ryan
Friday, October 26, 2007
10 comics your newspaper should carry (part 2)
All right, let's wrap this thing up. Last night's entries mean absolutely nothing, because these are the five comic strips that every newspaper should take a look at!
5) The Duplex
When I first stumbled upon The Duplex, I thought it was by one of the Shoebox greeting card artists. I'm still not convinced it isn't, but the humour is better than what my first impression of it was. Very good at the sort of strip where you enter the final panel with no idea of what the punchline will be.
4) Frog Applause
I'm going to call the Frog Applause style of humour 'postmodern'. I'm reasonably sure it isn't in fact postmodern, but it gets the idea across nicely. 90% of all FA comics follow this trend - a character (there's roughly a dozen regulars) offering up one line of dialogue in their trademark manner. It's something I've never seen before, and it's pulled off very well.
3) Brewster Rocket: Space Guy
'Idiots in space' is not exactly a new theme - think Buck Rogers, Mars Attacks! or even Captain Star. However, it's pulled off very well here - the incompetence is divided among everyone equally. Bonus points for having a recent week dedicated to Cliff mediating a dispute among the donut people - the glazed were fighting with the powdered.
2) State of the Union
This is what I was talking about yesterday, when I mentioned 'no more serious political comments'. There a 50% chance that SotU is in fact the right-wing answer to Candorville, Doonesbury and the like. However, there's also a 50% chance that SotU is in fact a brilliant parody of what such a strip would look like - the right-wing rhetoric is so strong at times that I can't fathom anybody seriously believing it.
1) Hubert and Abby
Hands down, the funniest comic strip I have ever stumbled across. Abby is an overworked nurse, Hubert is...nobody's sure what he is, but he has a five-year-old's sense of not knowing how the world works (i.e. 'we should start a family business and live off the profits' is considered solid retirement planning), and Turtle is a turtle. That's really all you need to know.
There you have it - the final five comic strips your newspaper should carry, according to me. Maybe you haven't learned something, but at least you got a laugh or five out of it.
--Ryan
5) The Duplex
When I first stumbled upon The Duplex, I thought it was by one of the Shoebox greeting card artists. I'm still not convinced it isn't, but the humour is better than what my first impression of it was. Very good at the sort of strip where you enter the final panel with no idea of what the punchline will be.
4) Frog Applause
I'm going to call the Frog Applause style of humour 'postmodern'. I'm reasonably sure it isn't in fact postmodern, but it gets the idea across nicely. 90% of all FA comics follow this trend - a character (there's roughly a dozen regulars) offering up one line of dialogue in their trademark manner. It's something I've never seen before, and it's pulled off very well.
3) Brewster Rocket: Space Guy
'Idiots in space' is not exactly a new theme - think Buck Rogers, Mars Attacks! or even Captain Star. However, it's pulled off very well here - the incompetence is divided among everyone equally. Bonus points for having a recent week dedicated to Cliff mediating a dispute among the donut people - the glazed were fighting with the powdered.
2) State of the Union
This is what I was talking about yesterday, when I mentioned 'no more serious political comments'. There a 50% chance that SotU is in fact the right-wing answer to Candorville, Doonesbury and the like. However, there's also a 50% chance that SotU is in fact a brilliant parody of what such a strip would look like - the right-wing rhetoric is so strong at times that I can't fathom anybody seriously believing it.
1) Hubert and Abby
Hands down, the funniest comic strip I have ever stumbled across. Abby is an overworked nurse, Hubert is...nobody's sure what he is, but he has a five-year-old's sense of not knowing how the world works (i.e. 'we should start a family business and live off the profits' is considered solid retirement planning), and Turtle is a turtle. That's really all you need to know.
There you have it - the final five comic strips your newspaper should carry, according to me. Maybe you haven't learned something, but at least you got a laugh or five out of it.
--Ryan
Thursday, October 25, 2007
10 comics your newspaper should carry (part 1)
I'll admit it, I still like comic strips. Unfortunately, a lot of newspapers (not that I'm singling out the KW Record or anyone else) like to run comics such as Blondie or Hi and Lois, despite the fact that they're not particularly funny - the only reason I've managed to come up with is "our readers liked them as kids". In the meantime, there are some great comic strips out there struggling to break into any newspapers. So, for your amusement, I present to you...ten comics your newspaper SHOULD carry!
Two ground rules - if I have EVER seen the comic in ANY newspaper, it doesn't qualify. Secondly, it must be a newspaper-style strip - not a webcomic. Of course, there's one exception to each rule, but I'll get them out of the way early on.
10) Pooch Cafe
Based solely on humour, Pooch Cafe would be much higher on this list. But because it's in many newspapers, I had to settle for having it at #10. Most comic strips build towards one punchline, which is contained at the end of the strip. Pooch Cafe's punchlines aren't much better than average, but what sets them apart is that there's usually multiple jokes in the same strip. The above strip isn't a great example of what I'm talking about, but it still works to an extent - most other comics, either the punchline or the final visual gag would stand by itself.
9) Snake 'n' Bacon
This one needs a bit of explaining - Snake 'N' Bacon were movie stars back in the early days of talking pictures. Now they host a radio show. The snake never says anything other than a hiss, and the bacon never says anything other than facts about bacon (i.e. 'Pat me down with a paper towel to remove excess grease'). Oh, and they apparently fight crime for some reason. I've only ever seen two strips from the series, and it was never really intended to be a 'real' comic strip, so it also gets jumbled at the bottom of the list, despite some awesome surrealist humour.
8) Candorville
Left-wing political cartoons are a dime a dozen these days, and there's nothing special that makes Candorville particularly stand out from the crowd. However, the fact that I happen to agree with pretty much everything I read in it means that I obviously like it, so it makes the top ten. You'll be glad to know that it's the only political cartoon you'll see here in a 'serious' light...
7) The Elderberries
Where are most successful comic strips? In the newspaper! Who still reads newspapers? People with lots of time on their hands! Who has lots of time on their hands? The retired! Where do retired people congregate? Retirement homes! I can only assume that was the thinking behind the creation of this strip...as otherwise, most of the humour could fit a workplace, school, bus, or anywhere else you'd get a random cluster of people interacting with each other The jokes aren't side-splittingly funny, but they're easily on par with your average strip.
6) Ink Pen
Ink Pen is another comic which requires me to explain its premise - the characters all work for an 'agency for out-of-work cartoon characters'. As such, you have a nice hodgepodge of superheroes, talking animals, regular people, and Norse gods. Again, there's nothing groundbreaking, but the jokes and art are both solid.
Coming up tomorrow (hopefully), part two of this list - the five comics your newspaper REALLY should carry!
--Ryan
Two ground rules - if I have EVER seen the comic in ANY newspaper, it doesn't qualify. Secondly, it must be a newspaper-style strip - not a webcomic. Of course, there's one exception to each rule, but I'll get them out of the way early on.
10) Pooch Cafe
Based solely on humour, Pooch Cafe would be much higher on this list. But because it's in many newspapers, I had to settle for having it at #10. Most comic strips build towards one punchline, which is contained at the end of the strip. Pooch Cafe's punchlines aren't much better than average, but what sets them apart is that there's usually multiple jokes in the same strip. The above strip isn't a great example of what I'm talking about, but it still works to an extent - most other comics, either the punchline or the final visual gag would stand by itself.
9) Snake 'n' Bacon
This one needs a bit of explaining - Snake 'N' Bacon were movie stars back in the early days of talking pictures. Now they host a radio show. The snake never says anything other than a hiss, and the bacon never says anything other than facts about bacon (i.e. 'Pat me down with a paper towel to remove excess grease'). Oh, and they apparently fight crime for some reason. I've only ever seen two strips from the series, and it was never really intended to be a 'real' comic strip, so it also gets jumbled at the bottom of the list, despite some awesome surrealist humour.
8) Candorville
Left-wing political cartoons are a dime a dozen these days, and there's nothing special that makes Candorville particularly stand out from the crowd. However, the fact that I happen to agree with pretty much everything I read in it means that I obviously like it, so it makes the top ten. You'll be glad to know that it's the only political cartoon you'll see here in a 'serious' light...
7) The Elderberries
Where are most successful comic strips? In the newspaper! Who still reads newspapers? People with lots of time on their hands! Who has lots of time on their hands? The retired! Where do retired people congregate? Retirement homes! I can only assume that was the thinking behind the creation of this strip...as otherwise, most of the humour could fit a workplace, school, bus, or anywhere else you'd get a random cluster of people interacting with each other The jokes aren't side-splittingly funny, but they're easily on par with your average strip.
6) Ink Pen
Ink Pen is another comic which requires me to explain its premise - the characters all work for an 'agency for out-of-work cartoon characters'. As such, you have a nice hodgepodge of superheroes, talking animals, regular people, and Norse gods. Again, there's nothing groundbreaking, but the jokes and art are both solid.
Coming up tomorrow (hopefully), part two of this list - the five comics your newspaper REALLY should carry!
--Ryan
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Drew Carey, come on down!
A few months back, when it was announced that Bob Barker was retiring from The Price Is Right, it was fairly big news.
When Rosie O'Donnell's name surfaced as a potential replacement candidate, it was arguably the top story in the entertainment industry at the time.
When Drew Carey was finally revealed as Barker's replacement, it was still fairly newsworthy.
Show of hands - how many of you realized that episodes with Carey as host have been airing for over a week now? Judging by the amount of ink I've seen devoted to the subject - none - it's probably very few of you.
I watched the first episode in full, and I've seen bits and pieces since then, and let me say this...Drew Carey was a really good choice. He might not be as adored by Joe Average as Bob was, but Drew's hardcore fans love Drew more than Bob's hardcore fans love Bob. It seems like he's rooting for the contestants, which is a good thing. And he isn't trying to make the show into something it's not.
I really only have two complaints about what I've seen. One, at times it seems as if Drew is too low-key, too understated. It's probably not his fault - maybe not even his decision - but the show's now about the games and the contestants, not about the host. That might be a good thing. What's not so good, however, is the Showcase Showdown. Bob had been watching that wheel for years; he instinctively knew where every number was, and where any spin was likely to land. Drew's still too new at the job to get any of that, but it will come in time.
Overall, good job CBS on the new hiring.
--Ryan
P.S. 'Google Whores', Dan? Did you really think anyone would believe that?
When Rosie O'Donnell's name surfaced as a potential replacement candidate, it was arguably the top story in the entertainment industry at the time.
When Drew Carey was finally revealed as Barker's replacement, it was still fairly newsworthy.
Show of hands - how many of you realized that episodes with Carey as host have been airing for over a week now? Judging by the amount of ink I've seen devoted to the subject - none - it's probably very few of you.
I watched the first episode in full, and I've seen bits and pieces since then, and let me say this...Drew Carey was a really good choice. He might not be as adored by Joe Average as Bob was, but Drew's hardcore fans love Drew more than Bob's hardcore fans love Bob. It seems like he's rooting for the contestants, which is a good thing. And he isn't trying to make the show into something it's not.
I really only have two complaints about what I've seen. One, at times it seems as if Drew is too low-key, too understated. It's probably not his fault - maybe not even his decision - but the show's now about the games and the contestants, not about the host. That might be a good thing. What's not so good, however, is the Showcase Showdown. Bob had been watching that wheel for years; he instinctively knew where every number was, and where any spin was likely to land. Drew's still too new at the job to get any of that, but it will come in time.
Overall, good job CBS on the new hiring.
--Ryan
P.S. 'Google Whores', Dan? Did you really think anyone would believe that?
Monday, October 22, 2007
Pluggage of My Own
I just thought I'd share my appreciation of the Google services. I'm finding the only thing keeping me balanced (or at least, as balanced as I am) is the Google calendar. Here's a little list of the other services I've taken advantage of:
Blogger - Duh! You're using it right now!
Google Calendar - The aforementioned calendar, it's as handy as the famous Palm Desktop (meant for a Palm Pilot, but useful for absolutely everybody). The leg up this one has, of course, is it's on the internet!
Gmail - At this point in time, I have 4279 megs of online email storage available. Not bad!
Documents - So I've pirated Word and Excel already, but I still find this online app handy. Upload files and edit them online, in case you ever find yourself wanting to work while waiting for someone at the library. (Yeah, like that'll ever happen.)
Reader - My personal favourite. Instead of checking each and every one of my favourite websites for updates, Google Reader will tell me when there's something new! A huge time saver.
Maps - Satellite images are ten times cooler than the crappy directions Mapquest used to give. Does that thing still exist? Maps also gives beautiful directions, and allows you to drag and drop if you want to take an alternate route.
Whores - Perhaps the most popular, yet of the lesser known of Google services, Google Whores will send a hot-mama to your home to please and pleasure. Not that I've ever tried of course... (Available also in Canada and the UK. 18+ only, depending on your area of access!)
Of course, there's iGoogle, Web search, Image search, Video search... and Desktop, Products, Scholar. But the ones I've mentioned are the ones I use most. (Not the last one, of course. That's not actually Google. And I hope it's not a service. Good god, I hope no one clicked that.) All hail Google!
Go! See how that plays out!
I can only imagine flawlessly!
--
Dan
Blogger - Duh! You're using it right now!
Google Calendar - The aforementioned calendar, it's as handy as the famous Palm Desktop (meant for a Palm Pilot, but useful for absolutely everybody). The leg up this one has, of course, is it's on the internet!
Gmail - At this point in time, I have 4279 megs of online email storage available. Not bad!
Documents - So I've pirated Word and Excel already, but I still find this online app handy. Upload files and edit them online, in case you ever find yourself wanting to work while waiting for someone at the library. (Yeah, like that'll ever happen.)
Reader - My personal favourite. Instead of checking each and every one of my favourite websites for updates, Google Reader will tell me when there's something new! A huge time saver.
Maps - Satellite images are ten times cooler than the crappy directions Mapquest used to give. Does that thing still exist? Maps also gives beautiful directions, and allows you to drag and drop if you want to take an alternate route.
Whores - Perhaps the most popular, yet of the lesser known of Google services, Google Whores will send a hot-mama to your home to please and pleasure. Not that I've ever tried of course... (Available also in Canada and the UK. 18+ only, depending on your area of access!)
Of course, there's iGoogle, Web search, Image search, Video search... and Desktop, Products, Scholar. But the ones I've mentioned are the ones I use most. (Not the last one, of course. That's not actually Google. And I hope it's not a service. Good god, I hope no one clicked that.) All hail Google!
Go! See how that plays out!
I can only imagine flawlessly!
--
Dan
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
A little bit of pluggage
Here's a whole bunch of websites I visit from time to time that some of you might find interesting. They're listed in the same order they are in my Favorites menu, which is a combination of alphabetical and chronological. Also note that this is easily in the top five for 'laziest ideas for blog posts ever'.
Abandonia - 'Abandonware' refers to computer programs (mainly games) which are no longer sold or even supported by their creator. As such, there's really no harm being done in third parties distributing them for free. It's a bit of a grey area, but it's a lot more legal than a lot of stuff out there, and Abandonia is an excellent resource with hundreds of old downloadable games - including many of those you'll remember from your youth.
Batters Box Baseball Blog - Yeah, I'm a Blue Jays fan, and the folks at Batters Box cover them better than anyone else. A lot of the statisical analysis stuff is way too in-depth for me, but most of the site is a great read for anyone interested in baseball.
Fark - This one shouldn't need any introduction for most of you. Fark started off as a website to post offbeat news stories found in the far corners of Internet news, and has evolved over time to now include real news as well.
IDGet - IDGet is a nice little webcomic by Kevin Magpac. Not updated nearly as often as it once was, but still very well done.
Nationstates - Nationstates is an online simulator in which you, well, build your own country. A lot of people find it ridiculously boring - and compared to some of what's out there, it is - but I'm not yet one of them.
Last.fm - Probably another one you've heard of - but if you haven't, last.fm offers a downloadable program which will then keep track of all music you listen to on your computer (not counting radio station streams or anything along those lines), and keep it nicely organized on its website.
Legends of Classic Rock Blog - Jeff Woods is the host of Legends of Classic Rock, a radio program syndicated across Canada. He also writes a daily blog (mostly focusing on classic rock artists) which I enjoy reading.
There you go. Seven solid websites. I have some better (read: less lazy) ideas for posts, which I'll probably get to later in the week.
--Ryan
Abandonia - 'Abandonware' refers to computer programs (mainly games) which are no longer sold or even supported by their creator. As such, there's really no harm being done in third parties distributing them for free. It's a bit of a grey area, but it's a lot more legal than a lot of stuff out there, and Abandonia is an excellent resource with hundreds of old downloadable games - including many of those you'll remember from your youth.
Batters Box Baseball Blog - Yeah, I'm a Blue Jays fan, and the folks at Batters Box cover them better than anyone else. A lot of the statisical analysis stuff is way too in-depth for me, but most of the site is a great read for anyone interested in baseball.
Fark - This one shouldn't need any introduction for most of you. Fark started off as a website to post offbeat news stories found in the far corners of Internet news, and has evolved over time to now include real news as well.
IDGet - IDGet is a nice little webcomic by Kevin Magpac. Not updated nearly as often as it once was, but still very well done.
Nationstates - Nationstates is an online simulator in which you, well, build your own country. A lot of people find it ridiculously boring - and compared to some of what's out there, it is - but I'm not yet one of them.
Last.fm - Probably another one you've heard of - but if you haven't, last.fm offers a downloadable program which will then keep track of all music you listen to on your computer (not counting radio station streams or anything along those lines), and keep it nicely organized on its website.
Legends of Classic Rock Blog - Jeff Woods is the host of Legends of Classic Rock, a radio program syndicated across Canada. He also writes a daily blog (mostly focusing on classic rock artists) which I enjoy reading.
There you go. Seven solid websites. I have some better (read: less lazy) ideas for posts, which I'll probably get to later in the week.
--Ryan
Friday, October 12, 2007
Another Youtube treat
Enough politics. How about something ridiculously awesome?
Ever wanted to hear a few hundred thousand people sing the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song?
Ever wanted to hear a few hundred thousand people sing the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song?
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