Cartoon Caption/Anti-Caption Contest Continues!

The winner of Caption Contest 190 (Robert Leighton's head-in-the-sand ostrich statue on Wall Street) is

"I think the head's in the wrong place."
Steve Punch (Danville, CA)

So California regains the lead!


The nominees in Caption Contest 192 (Jack Ziegler's celebrity interview on set behind bars) are:

"Both the movie and I will be released this summer."
Lawrence Wood (Chicago, IL)

"This is fancy role-playing for a conjugal visit."
Benjamin New (Plantation, FL)

"It's my first time on 'Celebrity Parole Hearing.'"
Al Miro (Astoria, NY)

Yes, two-time winner Lawrence Wood is in the running again. And me? I'm still a total loser:

"Enough about my movie. Let's talk about ischemia, atherosclerotic narrowings, saphenous vein autografts, and the myocardium!"

Heck, I didn't even "get" the bars on the set!


The winner of Anti-Caption Contest 193 (Victoria Roberts's marionette people) is

"I have to go to the bathroom."
Rob

My losers:

"Actually, I'd prefer to be a finger puppet. Let me show you how that would work."

"Now that we've done away with Mother and Father, I realize how they manipulated us for all these years. Let us celebrate our freedom with another wild killing spree!"

Caption Contest 194 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 194 is here.


THE STANDINGS

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

32 California

31 New York (27 from the Big Apple)

14 New Jersey

11 Virginia (five from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville, one from Newport News, one from Roanoke, one from Stanardsville)

9 Illinois (seven from Chicago, two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)
9 Massachusetts

6 Connecticut (two from New Haven, four not)
6 North Carolina (two from Charlotte)
6 Pennsylvania
6 Texas (three from Houston, one from Austin)

5 Maryland (none named Mary)

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

3 Michigan
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 Rhode Island

2 Alaska
2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 Nevada (Las Vegas 1, Zephyr Cove 1)
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Utah
2 Vermont

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

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Parodic The Gothamer illustration realized by Deborah Grumet from concept by David Marc Fischer

Cartoon Caption/Anti-Caption Contest Continues!

The winner of Caption Contest 188 (P.C. Vey's man at a piano filled with fish) is

"This song goes out to the one that got away."
Elisa Narsu (Basking Ridge, NJ)

So Narsu outplays (Brian) Shuman in a piano contest!


The nominees in Caption Contest 190 (Robert Leighton's Wall Street statue of ostrich burying its head on Wall Street) are:

"If we just ignore it, maybe it'll go away."
Lance Massey (Bowling Green, OH)

"The statue of the lemmings was just too depressing."
Andrew Mann (San Francisco, CA)

"I think the head's in the wrong place."
Steve Punch (Danville, CA)

My loser was the suggestion that there be no caption, as the illustration was funny in itself.

Oh well, I tried.


Dan Radosh has returned to picking winners in Anti-Caption Contest 191 (Farley Katz's cats flying off a cliff). His winner:

"Hmm, tough question. If I could have any super power in the world... probably super-strength, I guess. That or laser vision. You?"
Vlad

My loser:

"See what I mean? Even pussies can be part of a suicide cult!"

Caption Contest 192 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 192 is here.


THE STANDINGS

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

31 California

31 New York (27 from the Big Apple)

14 New Jersey

11 Virginia (five from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville, one from Newport News, one from Roanoke, one from Stanardsville)

9 Illinois (seven from Chicago, two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)
9 Massachusetts

6 Connecticut (two from New Haven, four not)
6 North Carolina (two from Charlotte)
6 Pennsylvania
6 Texas (three from Houston, one from Austin)

5 Maryland (none named Mary)

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

3 Michigan
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 Rhode Island

2 Alaska
2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 Nevada (Las Vegas 1, Zephyr Cove 1)
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Utah
2 Vermont

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

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Parodic The Gothamer illustration realized by Deborah Grumet from concept by David Marc Fischer

Cartoon Caption/Anti-Caption Contest Continues!

The winner of Caption Contest 186 (Danny Shanahan's Moses figure holding tablets with Asian inscription) is

"And Commandments Eleven to Twenty are the same as One to Ten, just with tofu instead of meat."
Douglas Cosby (Austin, TX)

With its sixth win, the Lone Star State advances into a four-way tie with Connecticut, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.


The nominees in Caption Contest 188 (P.C. Vey's keyboardistwith aquarium in piano case) are:

"This song goes out to the one that got away."
Elisa Narsu (Basking Ridge, NJ)

"And every year they return to my piano to spawn and die."
Frank Bruno (Sacramento, CA)

"Any requests before I tell you about tonight's specials?"
Brian Shuman (New York, NY)

My loser:

"If you know the lyrics, just dive right in!"

Compares well, I think.


At the time of this post, Dan Radosh had still not announced the results of Anti-Caption Contest 188 (P.C. Vey's keyboardist with a piano case full of water and fish) or anything more recent.


Caption Contest 190 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 190 is here. And, mind you, the unusually funny drawing is by homeboy Robert Leighton!


THE STANDINGS

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

31 California

30 New York (26 from the Big Apple)

13 New Jersey

11 Virginia (five from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville, one from Newport News, one from Roanoke, one from Stanardsville)

9 Illinois (seven from Chicago, two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)
9 Massachusetts

6 Connecticut (two from New Haven, four not)
6 North Carolina (two from Charlotte)
6 Pennsylvania
6 Texas (three from Houston, one from Austin)

5 Maryland (none named Mary)

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

3 Michigan
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 Rhode Island

2 Alaska
2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 Nevada (Las Vegas 1, Zephyr Cove 1)
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Utah
2 Vermont

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

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Parodic The Gothamer illustration realized by Deborah Grumet from concept by David Marc Fischer

NEWS FROM CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT 4

Congrats to Daniel Mendelsohn, whose book The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million just received the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography. Daniel is scheduled to appear at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library (seen in his brother Eric's film Judy Berlin) at 7:30 pm on Monday, March 19. Congrats also to Daniel's brother Matt, the photographer for the book, as well as the Mendelsohn family--the story Daniel tells is a family story. I still hope to read it as soon as I finish Against the Day.

In other news, Charles Wang has withdrawn his plan to create the elaborate and poorly named development Old Plainview. It seems that some development will go on, though. I'm highly skeptical of any scheme that would dramatically boost [the traffic and] the population, but I'm also appalled to read that Wang received racist emails from his opponents. That's disgusting.

I've gotten word from an inside informant that all but one of Robert Leighton's witty murals at the old Kennedy High School were painted over after years and years of wear and tear. They actually have art restorers and preservationists for things like that, but so it goes. (I imagine that Julie Lawrence's work met a similar fate.) Leighton, who contributed (okay: sold) these cartoons to The New Yorker, also worked on this humor piece for Slate. He's pictured on this page in what appears to be a bookstore.

Marc Lawrence's latest film is Music and Lyrics.

And oh yes: Frank London's band The Klezmatics won a 2006 Grammy for Wonder Wheel!

Photo: David Marc Fischer