CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTESTS CONTINUE! Richard Haspel of Brookline, Massachusetts takes top honors in Caption Contest #56 (surgeons working on bomb) with

"Damn it, I'm a brain surgeon, not a rocket scientist!"

As mentioned previously, this closely resembles an anti-caption.

Haspel's win moves Massachusetts ahead of New Jersey, giving it sole possession of a fourth place position.

New Jersey has a chance to regain ground in Caption Contest #58 (couple in labyrinth of cubicles) with this clever nominee from Noel Armstrong of Maple Shade:

"Sooner or later, you're going to have to learn your way to the bathroom yourself."

But it's up against nominees from heavy-hitters California and New York.

My own loser:

"Our relationship involves too much work."

Over at Anti-Caption Contest #59 (man in office with clock filled with symbol characters instead of numerals), the winner is Kevin Dean Nicewanger with

"Half past a monkey's ass and a quarter to his balls? What kind of clock are you using?"

My losers:

"171 914 19202 085 4125."

"Operator, get me !#!-%%%-&^@$. And hurry!"

"Take it from me. You can live perfectly well without a colon."

Caption Contest #60 is here. Anti-Caption Contest #60 is here.

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state, represented using a map format here.

12 California

7 New York (all New York City)

6 Pennsylvania

4 Massachusetts

3 New Jersey

2 Illinois
2 New Hampshire
2 North Carolina
2 Texas
2 Utah

1 Arizona
1 Connecticut
1 Georgia
1 Maryland
1 Minnesota
1 Mississippi
1 Missouri
1 New Mexico
1 Ohio
1 Oklahoma
1 Oregon
1 Rhode Island
1 Vermont
1 Washington, DC

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone