Cartoon Caption/Anti-Caption Contest Coverage Continues

It's apparently time for a pause at the Caption and Anti-Caption Contests, but I do note that the winner of Anti-Caption Contest 173 (Tom Cheney's businessmen with cartloads of cash) is

"I never thought that line about my red wagon, laundry cart, and suitcase business being too big to fail would ever work, but boy howdy, did it ever!"
bunsen

Kudos to Deborah for her Honorable Mention with

"See, this is why I became a taxidermist. To make piles and piles and piles of money."

My clever losers:

"That new partner sure delivers!"

"I never thought being bailed out would be so much fun!" (Apologies to Carolita Johnson!)

Caption Contest 174 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 174 is here.


THE STANDINGS

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

30 California

27 New York (23 from the Big Apple)

13 New Jersey

9 Virginia (four from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville, one from Newport News, one from Roanoke)

8 Illinois (six from Chicago, two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)

7 Massachusetts

6 Connecticut (two from New Haven, four not)
6 Pennsylvania

5 Maryland (none named Mary)
5 North Carolina (two from Charlotte)
5 Texas (three from Houston)

4 Arizona (two from Tucson)
4 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
4 Ohio

3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)

2 Alaska
2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Michigan
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Utah
2 Vermont
2 Washington

1 Alabama
1 Arkansas
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Louisiana (New Orleans)
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Wisconsin

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Satirical "Eustace K. Tilley" illustration realized by Deborah Grumet from concept by David Marc Fischer

Name That Punctuation!

Readers of Blog About Town tend to enjoy contests and typography, so I want to make sure that all of you are aware of a punctuation-naming event at Emdashes, which is itself named after punctuation.

The challenge is to come up with a name for the upside-down question mark familiar in Spanish.

So far I'm especially impressed by Carolita Johnson's quiggle, which sounds delightfully naughty to me. My own suggestion is interroflip, a spin on interrobang.

So I suppose the upside-down exclamation mark might be called a bangflip or a flipbang.

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION COVERAGE CONTINUES!

Before getting around to the contest results, I'd like to comment on the new illustration (right).

Last week artist Deborah Grumet and I worked on a fully realized response to Barry Blitt's satirical New Yorker cover depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as Islamic terrorist types in the Oval Office. I wanted a satirical parody cover that would "turn the tables" on The New Yorker, and I was delighted to find that Deborah was onboard with the concept. So far our cover's gotten some attention at The Tim Zone and elicited some musing from New Yorker cartoonist Carolita Johnson, whose amusing and informative guide to "Lunch Hour Birds of Central Park" received a lot of play over the past week despite its rejection by The New Yorker.


On to a less controversial topic—you know, the lighter side of suicide—the winner of Caption Contest 150 (Lee Lorenz's man with gun to his head), is none other than

"Just come to bed and kill yourself in the morning."
Marcos El Malo (Los Angeles, CA)

I wonder what salsa trombonist Willie Colon would have to say about that!


In Caption Contest 152 (Mick Stevens's car blocked by Earth), it's looking like a CA-NY faceoff. The nominees are

"Why do I always get stuck behind the slow planets?"
Brian Ahern (Long Beach, NY)

"Oh, great, we're stuck behind a four-and-a-half-billion-year-old."
Ari Stern (North Hollywood, CA)

"Honey, I told you the whole world is headed to the Cape this weekend."
Terri-Lee Burger (Brooklyn, NY)

My reject:

"Looks like we're almost there."

In Anti-Caption Contest 153 (Leo Cullum's female kickline in court, with one disapproving lawyer), the winner is

"Hubba hubba! Maybe a dingo did eat the defendant's baby!"
kejo

My rejects:

"Ha ha ha, hee hee hee, ho ho ho. What do you mean, you don't 'get' the satire?"

"Don't look so glum--next week we'll bring in male strippers. That should turn your frown upside-down! Or something to that effect."

"Hey, I know what's obscene when I see it. And I sure hope I see it. Lots and lots of it!"

Caption Contest 154 is here, while Anti-Caption Contest 154 is here.


THE STANDINGS

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

28 California

22 New York (19 from the Big Apple)

12 New Jersey

7 Virginia (three from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville, one from Roanoke)

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania

5 Connecticut (two from New Haven, three not)
5 Illinois (four from Chicago—two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)
5 Texas (three from Houston)

4 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
4 Maryland (none named Mary)
4 North Carolina

3 Arizona (two from Tucson)
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 Ohio

2 Alaska
2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Michigan
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Utah
2 Vermont
2 Washington

1 Alabama
1 Arkansas
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Wisconsin

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

"Eustace K. Tilley" illustration realized by Deborah Grumet from concept by David Marc Fischer

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION COVERAGE CONTINUES!

In Caption Contest 128 (Carolita Johnson's big ol' dog in living room), one nominee was from New Jersey and the other two were from New York. A win for New York would push the Empire State ahead of California to claim sole first-place honors for the first time since Caption Contest 1. So which caption won?

"I'll walk, you shovel."
Zachary Phelps (Laurence Harbor, NJ)

Yes, Zachary Phelps: You've played the spoiler and advanced the Garden State while holding New York in check—for now.


In Caption Contest 130 (P.C. Vey's snowman with waving arms), the nominees are

"He has a summer job as a scarecrow."
Parizad Motiwala (Denver, CO)

"It's all the witness-protection program would offer him."
Suzanne Geba (San Francisco, CA)

"It's mostly water weight."
Vincent Coca (Staten Island, NY)

My loser:

"This is much cooler than burying him in sand."

In Anti-Caption Contest 131 (Mick Stevens's safes raining on house), the winner is

"I bet this is killing a tremendous number of people."
Dan McCoy

My loser:

"You think it's safe, kejo? Only if you have no vault insurance! Hyuk hyuk snort!!"

In other New Yorker contest news, you can inspect the contestants in the silly Eustace Tilley contest here.


Caption Contest 132 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 132 is here.


THE STANDINGS

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

20 California
20 New York (17 from the Big Apple)

11 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania
6 Virginia (three from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville)

5 Connecticut (two from New Haven, three not)
5 Illinois (four from Chicago—two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)

4 Maryland (none named Mary)

3 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 North Carolina
3 Ohio
3 Texas

2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Michigan
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Alaska
1 Arizona
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION COVERAGE CONTINUES!

The winner of Caption Contest 126 (David Sipress's human head in Mondrianesque artwork) is

"Pardon me, can you draw clothes?"
Tom Tyler (Alexandria, VA)

Of Virginia's six wins, that's the fourth since Caption Contest 109. The state is now in a three-way tie for third place.

In Caption Contest 128 (Carolita Johnson's big ol' dog in living room), the nominees are very Metropolitan Area, which doesn't bode well for front-runner California:

"Don't look at me that way—I wanted a giant cat."
Kristopher Wood (Brooklyn, NY)

"Well, what did you think a labrapotamus was?"
Peter Schooff (New York, NY)

"I'll walk, you shovel."
Zachary Phelps (Laurence Harbor, NJ)

My loser is the old-school

"His bulk is worse than his bite."

In Anti-Caption Contest 129 (Leo Cullum's patient with doctor and figure in deep-sea diving suit), the winner is:

"No, you’re just hallucinating. Just kidding – he’s really there. Just kidding again – you’re really hallucinating. Ha! I love this game!"
Deborah

My loser:

"We'd like to take a 365-day urine sample, if that's all right with you."

Caption Contest 130 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 130 is here.


In other news, The New Yorker now has a Cartoonist of the Month blog, currently featuring Mick Stevens, who's doing a great job. (Thanks, Emdashes!)


THE STANDINGS

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

20 California
20 New York (17 from the Big Apple)

10 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania
6 Virginia (three from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville)

5 Connecticut (two from New Haven, three not)
5 Illinois (four from Chicago—two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)

4 Maryland (none named Mary)

3 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 North Carolina
3 Ohio
3 Texas

2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Alaska
1 Arizona
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Michigan
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION COVERAGE CONTINUES!

The winner of Caption Contest 125 (Michael Crawford's couple in bed with four men in suits) is

"I liked it better when we just had your people call my people."
John Late (Satellite Beach, FL)

That's two wins for the Sunshine State.


In Caption Contest 127 (Drew Dernavich's ice fishing through the outline of a man), the nominees are

"I put some beer on the hook. I figure if that's what got him into this mess it should be able to get him out."
Kea Wheeler (Westland, MI)

"Ice fishing and skydiving—who says they don't go together?"
Michael Robinson (Riverton, NJ)

"He's got a new fish-whispering technique."
Joelle Santucci (Portsmouth, RI)

My loser:

"Harry Bailey? Haven't seen him."

At least I finally got to use an It's a Wonderful Life joke.


In Anti-Caption Contest 127 (Drew Dernavich's fishing hole shaped like a human), everyone's a winner. My winners:

"My fishing buddy is Johnny Fuckin’ Storm, yo!"

"Hello. My name is Ray. I am a homicide detective who is fishing for clues."

"Watch. I’ll yank out his heart in a minute!"

In Anti-Caption Contest 128 (Carolita Johnson's big dog in reading room), the winner is

"Do you think they'll euthanize him with one big shot, or just lots of regular-sized shots?"
Dave [No relation.—Ed.]

My losers:

"I think I'll call former trainer Brian McNamee and order more of his special biscuits for Roger here. While I'm at it, do you want anything for yourself, big boy?"

"I never felt comfortable talking about this before, but I'm glad we finally did something about the 800-pound gorilla."

Caption Contest 129 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 129 is here.


THE STANDINGS

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

20 California
20 New York (17 from the Big Apple)

10 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania

5 Connecticut (two from New Haven, three not)
5 Illinois (four from Chicago—two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)
5 Virginia (two from Richmond)

4 Maryland (none named Mary)

3 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 North Carolina
3 Ohio
3 Texas

2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Alaska
1 Arizona
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Michigan
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTESTS CONTINUE!

Welcome to the latest weekly round-up of cartoon caption/anti-caption contest results, duly recorded here and on this handy map!

Before getting into the results this week, I'd like to offer a friendly "hello" to John Bucher, the new intern of Emdashes. John, who hails from Canada, will now perform all sorts of services for Emily Gordon in her attempt to capture the essence of The New Yorker in blog posts. Feel free to leave a welcome for John in the Emdashes comments section--where you'll be in good company with the likes of Carolita Johnson--cartoonist and NYkette.

And now...the captions!


In Caption Contest #95 (two business men observing a filer fending off a tiger), the winner is

"You know, I'm gonna miss this when we go paperless."
Christopher Farber (New York, NY)

Let's hear it for Brooklyn's Farber, who has reduced the gap between New York and first-place California to a mere four points! Rah rah rah.


In Caption Contest #97 (whack-a-mole office), the candidates are

"Go fetch your mallet, Wilkins--we'll play doubles."
Joel Brouwer (Tuscaloosa, AL)

"I'm having my tech guys set them to music."
Laura Shanahan Egloff (Los Angeles, CA)

"The negotiator for their union was very timid."
Arthur Litoff (York Springs, PA)

My loser:

"What a holy mess."

In Anti-Caption Contest #98 (office with guy pointing telescope thingy into wall), the winner is

"Hey, is that some sort of artillery gun barrel protruding through the wall? Why don't you look at it and see. Heh-heh-heh... (Sound of armor-piercing depleted uranium rounds being loaded in the next room.)"
John Tabin

My loser:

"Tom, Tom, Tom."

Caption Contest #99 is here. Anti-Caption Contest #99 is here.


THE STANDINGS

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

17 California

13 New York (12 from the Big Apple)

9 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania

4 Connecticut (two from New Haven, two not)

3 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
3 Illinois
3 Maryland (none named Mary)
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 North Carolina
3 Ohio

2 District of Columbia
2 New Hampshire
2 Texas
2 Utah
2 Virginia

1 Arizona
1 Florida
1 Iowa
1 Mississippi
1 Missouri
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Oregon
1 Rhode Island
1 Vermont
1 Washington

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

EMDASHES VALENTINES. Hold on to a fruitcake long enough and it'll morph into a Valentine's Day gift! That's the kind of thing that happened with a bunch of New Yorker gift ideas solicited last year by Emily Gordon of Emdashes from yours truly and others including Daniel "Lemony Snicket" Handler, Carolita Johnson, and Patricia Storms. Check 'em out here!