CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTESTS CONTINUE!

The Great East Coast Winning Streak of 2006 came to an end today after 12 straight victories--and perhaps it was inevitable that the stopper state was front-runner California, ending its 22-caption dry spell with its 13th victory overall.

In other news, Emily at Emdashes posted an amusing interview with cartoonist Mick Stevens. Also: Dan Radosh launched a poll to find out how his readers want the Anti-Caption Contest judged (exit surveys indicate that voters want to give Radosh even more power, which is how fascism begins) and still managed to find the time to start a one-shot photo caption contest!


So who enabled California to get its win in Caption Contest #76 (Native American aiming high-tech arrow at fort)? Why, none other than Paul Denning of San Francisco, with

"It better work--they sold it to us."

In Caption Contest #78 (elongated couple in outsized bed in cell), the nominees are

"How about we just stay in tonight?"
David Ruebeck (Minneapolis, MN)

"Ever think about kids?"
Katherine Freygang (Cornwall, CT)

"My mother is coming to stay next week."
John Mahoney (Excelsior, MN)

Yeah, that's right: Two of the nominees are from Minnesota--and the one from Connecticut is a woman! My loser:

"Honey, where did I put the cell phone?"

At Anti-Caption Contest #78, the winner is

"If I were a contestant on Deal or No Deal, I'd tell Howie that I was going to select the models in order from the skinniest to the fattest. Then I'd watch all the pretty girls cry."
Kevin G

In Anti-Caption Contest #79 (briefcase men confront sideways apartment building), the nominees are

"I heard that the bank put a lien on this place."
al in la

"This is the most desirable address in the city. Gravity is rotated 90 degrees inside the building, which is very unusual, but the real selling point is that there are absolutely no negroes living here."
John Tabin

"There are more subtleties to it than you might think. For instance, the elevator shafts become corridors, but depending on the floor plan and which axis you've rotated on, the doors into those shafts might become horizontal lift-gates, or trapdoors in the floor or ceiling. Corridors parallel to the rotation axis are still useable, but the perpendicular corridors become vertical shafts. Similarly, stairs running perpendicular to the rotation axis are still useable, with treads and risers interchanged, while stairs running parallel turn into sideways corrugated walls. The wiring is fine either way, but the plumbing is always a problem, so we usually just shut that off. Funny thing is, that's usually the only thing the tenants notice."
Walt

My rejects:

"You're amazing--I can't even get my dog to do that!" [Don't you think this one's funny?]

"This must be where Rex Pickett lives."

"Look at that! Watering the plants must be a challenge!"

"Don't let that building distract you, comrade! Now, which of the briefcases contains the Polonium 210?"

Caption Contest #80 is here. Anti-Caption Contest #80 is here.


THE STANDINGS
Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all mapped out here.

13 California

10 New York (9 from the Big Apple)

7 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania

3 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
3 North Carolina

2 Connecticut (both women, both from New Haven)
2 District of Columbia
2 Illinois
2 Maryland (both women, neither named Mary)
2 Minnesota
2 New Hampshire
2 Texas
2 Utah

1 Arizona
1 Iowa
1 Mississippi
1 Missouri
1 New Mexico
1 Ohio
1 Oklahoma
1 Oregon
1 Rhode Island
1 Vermont
1 Virginia
1 Washington

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone