OK GO: HERE IT GOES AGAIN. The band OK Go has a great new video out on YouTube. Kudos to everyone, including the choreographer(s)--this is outstanding!



Source

In other OK Go news, the band extended the deadline for Million Ways contest submissions.

Previous coverage here.

OKAY GO PARODY ON THE SIMPSONS

Reading about Sasha and Dave and the OK Go video for Here It Goes Again (choreographed by Trish Sie), I remembered that The Simpsons parodied the video recently. So here it goes again—thanks to YouTube!

Also, for a long overdue follow-up, make yourself comfortable and click here for winners of OK Go's Million Ways contest!



Source (00:41)

OK GO: A MILLION WAYS. I'm a little behind the curve on this, but better late than never.

Here's what I think is the original.




It inspired many, many others. Like these young ladies.




And now there's a contest.




Anyone can enter. Or so it seems.




Previous coverage of OK Go.

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION COVERAGE PAUSES, SORT OF!

The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest pauses this week, but there's still some news as well as an Anti-Caption Contest result.


The winner of Anti-Caption Contest 149 (Mick Stevens's man with jet pack in doorway of woman in curlers) is

"Good Morning. I have an IM from Kaitlyn: 'IMHO you should wear that cute power-blue top today with your white shirt...I'm hearng that Tyler likes Ashley, but she is so not interested...Didn't Morgan look fat yesterday in that hideous outfit? I'm like: What were you thinking, girl?...Oh, and please get your computer fixed. My mom's starting to bitch that this costs too much. (She's such a Drama Queen)...See ya at school!'"
al in la

My loser:

"I invented the jet-pack and flew over here as soon as I learned you were a cross-dressing exhibitionist, but I'm afraid, sir, that it just wasn't worth the effort."

Otherwise there are at least two caption developments. Recent winner Patrick House of Palo Alto followed his victory ("O.K. I'm at the window. To the right? Your right or my right?") with a Slate article entitled, "How to Win the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest." Online respondents to this article include two-time winner Lawrence Wood of Chicago, who wrote

Patrick House's caption -- "O.K. I'm at the window. To the right? Your right or my right?" -- was good, but I think even he'll admit that it wasn't as good as the one I submitted: "O.K. I'm at the window. My right or your right?" Brevity being the soul of wit, my shorter caption (which was substantively identical to the winning entry) should have been selected over Mr. House's. Why wasn't it? I can't be sure, but since I've already won two caption contests (nos. 92 and 123), I think The New Yorker is reluctant to give me a third victory. Or maybe it's because I'm Jewish. The New Yorker is a notoriously anti-Semitic publication.

So once again I feel obliged to share my own submission:

"Okay, I give up. What has six toes and ten fingers and climbs walls?"

You know, I'm letting go of the notion that my loser submission was notably close to the winner...but still!

Maybe it should've been "Okay, I give up. What climbs walls and has ten fingers but only six toes?"

I guess I just can't let go of this one.


Of course, I'm not the only loser in Blogland. Michael Neal wrote to Slate to draw attention to his How to lose the New Yorker cartoon caption contest posts at SlapClap.


And Dan Radosh is accepting questions for caption contest gatekeeper Farley Katz.


Caption Contest 149 is here, while the Anti-Caption Contest Bonus is here.


THE STANDINGS

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

27 California

21 New York (18 from the Big Apple)

12 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)
5 Texas (three from Houston)

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

3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 Ohio

2 Alaska
2 Arizona
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 Arkansas
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington
1 Wisconsin

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

YOUTUBE AWARDS 2006. YouTube just ran a quickie contest for the best videos in seven categories. I didn't pay much attention to it, but now that the winners have been chosen, I predictably find that it's time to crap--I mean carp. Heh.

My two main gripes: Some of the winners simply cannot be representative of the best of original YouTube video, and in a way it's a shame that non-original material doesn't/can't get any recognition. I mean, isn't this the first time in history that many precious motion picture moments have become readily viewable by millions, on demand? Scopitones...The Nat King Cole Show...Morricone moments--this is the stuff of cultural history!

Anyway, congrats to OK Go for taking Most Creative with the treadmill routine for "Here It Goes Again"--that's a helluva video! UPDATE: The band is supposed to play the Apple Store SoHo tonight. Beware of crowd!

And here's something else that won me over: "Hotness Prevails/Worst Video Ever" by thewinekone. It's the winner for Best Commentary. I'd post it when the weather gets hot, but I think that would be too hard to bear.



Source (8:20)

SPRING AWAKENING. I can't think of a better time to write about Spring Awakening, which is currently enjoying a successful run at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre. The story, based on a controversial 1891 play by Frank Wedekind, captures the tension between adolescent passion and adult repression in a German town in the 19th Century. The dialogue is (intentionally) stiff, like an early English translation of Wedekind's play, but when the performers deliver the Duncan Sheik/Steven Sater songs, it's as if their microphones finally enable them to pour out feelings that have been bottled up far too long. The contrast is unusual and effective.

The vocal scoring of Spring Awakening exposes many individual parts but the casting of the production is impressively deep, with many of the performers--not just stars Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, and John Gallagher, Jr.--possessing strong and beautiful voices. I was impressed by Brian Charles Johnson and Jonathan B. Wright and most especially Lauren Pritchard (left), who plays the non-conformist Ilse with disarming quirkiness and also has this MySpace page.

The music director for Spring Awakening is the amazing Kimberly Grigsby (right), previously noted here for her conductorship of the Summer 2005 Two Gentlemen of Verona, which should still be playing today. This woman simply casts a spell on me: I didn't realize she was at a Spring Awakening event at the Virgin Megastore until a glimpse of her graceful hand movements caught my attention....

My enthusiasm for the show has grown since I saw it and gave the cast recording a number of spins.

Here's "The Bitch of Living," featuring choreography by Bill T. Jones that reminds me of Trish Sie's routines for OK Go.



Source (3:16)

MORE FEIST FEST! Here's the beautiful video for "One Evening," by Guitarchik Leslie Feist. Production-wise, it's like Sade meeting The Fifth Dimension. Choreographically, it's just this side of OK Go. I love it!

Oh yeah. Shadow puppets, too.



Source (3:33)

OK GO CONTEST UPDATE. The last day for contest submissions is July 30.

Here's one from Anchorage, Alaska. At least I'm told it's Anchorage, Alaska. I don't see any igloos....



Source

LIVEBLOGGING THE TONY AWARDS

Oh what the heck...here goes!

Leave it to the Tony Awards to start with the opening of a musical from the 1970s that captures how desperate performers can be just to get a job on Broadway, let alone any award. The music's great (and that's composer Marvin Hamlisch at the keyboard), but the message?

Starting the presentation is the great Angela Lansbury, who muffs up her teleprompter lines...possibly because she's looking for cue cards. Whatever. She's great...and a lovable part of the Tony Awards is how unslick they are. That really came through during the NY1 red carpet interviews, when Donna Karger and Roma Torre messed up again and again. And I wince and love that kind of thing...at the same time!

Doogie Howser [okay, Myra: Neil Patrick Harris] is one of the two presenters for the first award. I'm happy for my friend Anne, who's there.

The prize for Best Actor in a Featured Musical [Myra, by "Musical" I mean "Play"] goes to Billy Crudup, which means that Debbie and I both get a point! Congrats, Debbie!! Crudup [who said he was happy that his name was pronounced correctly] pronounces Stoppard close to STOP-pard, as opposed to one of the guys on WNYC, who's been saying Stop-PARD. I'm glad Crudup gave a shout out to Ethan Hawke, who was terrific in Coast--the third of Coast of Utopia that I saw.

And look at that--one of the co-presenters for Featured Actor in a Musical is Robert Sean Leonard--I'm happy for Claire, who's there, because RSL is the guy who was in Long Day's Journey... I was trying to think of when we were at Moon for the Misbegotten.

The Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical goes to John Gallagher, Jr. I'm happy for Myra, who's there, and I'm happy for me because I just got another point. Spring Awakening is clearly the audience fave--you can hear it in the applause, which is being produced by Anne, Claire, Cullen, Myra, and some other people at Radio City Music Hall, which is not a Broadway theater. Gallagher, like his co-star Lauren Pritchard, sounds a lot like his character.

And Steven Sater takes Best Book for Spring Awakening--my first setback, and I feel sorry for Grey Gardens....

And now Sater returns to share Best Score with Duncan Sheik. Sater is hogging the mike. Give Sheik a chance!!! Wait...it turns out Sheik already won Orchestration earlier--that must be one of those technical awards. And now he's talking about all the lives that he's ruined on his path to success. What a bastard he must be--kidding! Oh wait: He's saying "Musical theater rocks!" A sound bite for the ages. Ben and the rest of the Tony crowd must be kvelling.

Best Featured Actress in a musical? Mary Louise Wilson. Phew--Grey Gardens gets some props...and MLW is a-whooping and a-hollering over it. No apologies from that broad.

Sometime before that John Kander got a big hand. Cabaret...Chicago...just amazing. Then came the Curtains dance number. David Hyde Pierce. Debra Monk. Why isn't she cast in more--or any?--Ethel Merman roles?

Man, that Mary Poppins is scary....

Okay...got some time to catch up with those "not ready for prime time" tech awards.

It's a good night for Bob Crowley, who got Best Scenic Design for a Musical for Mary Poppins and shared Best Scenic Design for a Play with Scott Pask for Coast of Utopia.

Best Costume Design for a Play goes to Catherine Zuber of Coast of Utopia.

Best Costume Design of a Musical goes to Grey Gardens costumer William Ivey Long--and I hope he thanked Little Edie in his speech.

Best Lighting Design of a Musical? Kevin Adams of Spring Awakening.

Best Lighting Design of a Play goes to Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner, and Natasha Katz for The Coast of Utopia.

And, for the record, the Regional Theatre Tony award goes to the Alliance Theatre of Atlanta, Georgia, in the former Soviet Union.

Oh, it's a Frasier reunion (Bebe and David Hyde Pierce) for the Best Choreographer: Bill T. Jones, for Spring Awakening. He's prancing his way up to the stage--makes it all worthwhile. Oh, he's saluting people who aren't there--like Arnie Zane [Jones named no one]--and also his partner...who's a guy! Who knew??? Heh.

You know, I haven't heard a Paris Hilton joke yet. What kind of award show is this?

Best Featured Actress in a play is Jennifer Ehle--point for Blog About Town! I can't believe it!! I don't know what to say!!! I'm so proud and grateful. And she slips in a plug for O'Neill's or whatever that place is called.

The musical number from Mary Poppins--something about a chimney--seems oddly familiar. And that Mary Poppins--she looks so full of herself! On second thought, maybe it's not that familiar.

So let's see...Spring has 6, Coast has 5, Grey has 2, and Mary has 1.

Best Direction of a Play goes to Coast of Utopia's Jack O'Brien, who earned the award by getting a large company of actors to holler in the acoustically flat center of the Vivian Beaumont for three plays straight. Oooo--he just mentioned that there ought to be an award for Score for Play. I've been thinking along similar lines...but on a grander scale.

Eddie Izzard presents Special Event--in drag, if you count men's clothing as drag clothing because women wear it too. Heh. Kiki and Herb. But it goes to Jay, depriving us of the chance to see K&H's speech. I wish I'd seen Jay Johnson's show, even if he's accepting without a dummy on his arm. You know that pin on his jacket? It's a Charlie McCarthy--with a tiny movable jaw! (I know that from the red carpet interview on NY1.)

Anyway, I'd hoped for a tie in the Special Event category. So no point for me. Another miss: Best Lighting for a Musical (my pick was 110 in the Shade, which I haven't seen--I figured pulling off the 110/Shade thing must've been quite a feat).

Hey--there was a kind of Pythonesque/Phantomesque moment when a chandelier "dropped" on the rule reciters. And they're replaced by John Mahoney and the wonderful Jane Krakowski, may she forever be well-employed. Another one of those endearing and clumsy Tony routines.

OMG--I think there might be a tiny moment when a musical act from Legally Blonde goes on air. Let's see...the Grinch, Les Mis, that Dylan/Tharp thing...with none of the music, The Pirate Queen, High Fidelity...yes--Legally Blonde made it on the show! Hm. I hope I didn't miss anything in that montage....

Harry Connick presents Best Direction of a Musical. Goes to Michael Mayer for Spring Awakening, averting a riot. Yay--his first mention was my music director crush, Kim Grigsby. He also said there should be some other category, but I missed what it is. I'm sure I've been thinking along those lines...but on a grander scale. And he squeezed in some remarks about sexual oppression, which he's against. Which is good.

And there's Patti LuPone, who's gonna be in the Encores! Gypsy. See you soon, Patti!!

And now Harry Connick plays a selection from Company. No...wait...that's Raúl Esparza, who's actually nominated for his leading role in the musical. Accompanying him is Patti LuPone on tuba. No...wait...that was last season. But a blown opportunity, as far as I'm concerned. A funny thing about this is that he's got orchestral backup--even though part of the point of his Company is that there isn't orchestral accompaniment. Oh, the irony.

Maybe that's why John Doyle wasn't exactly grinning ear-to-ear.

Psst. At least one of the presenters for Best Play is a Gay. That's right: Marcia Gay Harden! Hah hah. Wow--Judd Hirsch is rocking some serious shades. Did I say that right? Hm. The Little Dog Laughed is very telegenic. I smell cable/film rights. Maybe that's happened already.

OMG, some sort of bait-and-switch took place. Suddenly it's time for Best Play Revival, and Hirsch and Harden have become Waterston and...Huffman? It goes to Journey's End, a very fine production that was poorly attended despite my recommendations on this very blog. Good for them. And OMG OMG--one of the guys on stage is wearing plaid pants. WTF? Of course, in true Tony fashion, the acceptor made a crack about the money. And now he's saying that the play has never [ever] made money. Well, I'm glad I saw it, so thank you. And thanks for the plea for a better way than war when it comes to solving conflicts.

Tall Tommy Tune gets to do the goodbyes. Waah. He says goodbye to Betty Comden. Waah. And now we get to hear him singing her lyrics. Bye Jay Harnick! Bye Roscoe Lee Browne! Bye Lloyd Richards! I miss you all.

The camera caught Tune from a low angle that emphasized his height. Would it have been in bad taste for him to be dressed like an old-fashioned undertaker, with a high top hat? Don't answer that.

Jane Krakowski's back! Yay!! Hey--she was in Starlight Express!!! I might've seen her in that. She's with Kevin Spacey. And they're presenting Best Revival of a Musical. For real. No switch-and-bait here. I can feel it coming. Kevin says he played a dog on Broadway. So did Sarah Jessica Parker. [Actually, maybe that was just Off-Broadway.] Anyway, Company takes the Tony.

Hm. I think this is going to go past 10.

And the Company producers get drowned out by the orchestra. That wouldn't happen with Patti LuPone on tuba. At least I don't think so.

Did Santo Loquasto give Brian Dennehy his haircut? Aren't there union rules against that?

Anyway, it's Best Actress time--and no jokes about Eve Best being the Best Actress. It sounded like it was going to go to Julie White--and it did! Good for her. She's really on right now. Will she thank the real-life, now deceased, agent who inspired her character? She's very funny and fun to watch. Real YouTube potential. Oy--she's calling her character "hideous." But she's fun and full of life and I want to see her again and again on Broadway.

Here's an ad for the movie musical Hairspray starring John Travolta. I miss you, Divine.

So...is The Sopranos over, well underway, or just beginning? It's 10:06 and I'm clueless.

Okay, this is where the show might lose me. It's a Jersey Boys cover. So I think I'll refresh my tally.

7 Spring
6 Coast
2 Grey
1 Mary
1 Company
1 Jay Johnson
1 Journey's End
1 The Little Dog Laughed

I hope that's right.

For Best Actor, Frank Langella seemed to get the most applause, but it was close. But not close enough. It's Frank Langella--as widely predicted. I look forward to seeing Frost/Nixon.

Patrick Wilson intros Grey Gardens by saying that everyone has one eccentric relative, but Jackie O had two. At least, I'm sure. Christine Ebersole's getting the audience love. And I can't wait for her hum. Here it comes. It's coming. It's coming. Da da da da dahhhhh. Love it! And she gets to make that nasty Republican comment on national TV. She also did it at a performance for Laura Bush and her daughters--I learned that from the NY1 pre-show.

The Tony for Costuming for Musicals went to Grey Gardens via William Ivey Long, who thanked the Tony powers for recognizing both Grey Gardens and Spring Awakening. Interesting, don't you think?

And yeah...Da da da da dahhhhh. isn't exactly humming. I know. That's liveblogging for ya.

Hm. I think I'll do some boldfacing.

Presenter Christopher Plummer misses Vincent Sardi. Waah.

Best Play goes to Coast of Utopia. Accepting is Tom STOP-pard. Real greatness. Thank you, Tom, for Arcadia, too. Man, I'm glad Stoppard didn't get cut off. And André Bishop also says STOP-pard. During Bernard Gersten's thank you I heard a mazel tov off camera. Heh.

And here's Zach Braff confessing that he loves musical theater. Has he been on Broadway? Not according to IBDB. Will he be on Broadway? I hope so.

And here's the number from Spring Awakening. With Kim Grigsby's graceful arm movements! And here's some of Bill T. Jones's YouTube -inspired choreography--the bit with the chairs that really looks like an Ok GO! routine. And there's Kim again, rocking out in the background. And shit--they were allowed to say "bitch" but not "ass"? Chickenshit! Excellent--but not enough Lauren Pritchard. Can't get enough Lauren Pritchard.

Time for Best Actor in a Musical--Jonathan Groff got a lot of applause, but so did David Hyde Pierce and Raúl Esparza, whose companion looked very confident. And it goes to David Hyde Pierce, surprising the world and vindicating the prediction in The New York Times! And hey--he recognizes his partner, Brian, too.

Best Actress in a Musical goes to...could it be Audra McDonald, who got a lot of applause? No, in this case it's the fore-ordained winner, Christine Ebersole. You've come a long way from Saturday Night Live, baby--in a speech that could be from A Chorus Line: The Sequel. And she thanks the Edies, if not the Maysles.

So is there anything left? It's almost 11! Oh yeah: Best Musical. Ya think it's gonna be Spring Awakening? It is indeed. There will not be enough room on the stage, but I think Mozart will get a chance to speak. Wow--he looks more like P.D.Q. Bach these days. And I mean that in the best possible sense. And he said Kimberly Grigsby. He did!

8 Spring Awakening
7 The Coast of Utopia [closed]
3 Grey Gardens
1 Company
1 Curtains
1 Frost/Nixon
1 Jay Johnson: The Two and Only [closed]
1 Journey's End [closed]
1 The Little Dog Laughed [closed]
1 Mary Poppins

That's a record for Coast of Utopia.

Cartoon Caption/Anti-Caption Contest Coverage Continues

Let's hear it yet again for the candidate from Illinois! The winner of Caption Contest 165 (Mick Stevens's royal disbursement of cash to crowd) is

"Looks like another ye olde stimulus package."
John Burke (Park Ridge, IL)

That's the third Illinois winner in four weeks—not counting Barack Obama, of course!


In Caption Contest 167 (Frank Cotham's campaign in a forest), the nominees are pretty good:

"As a weasel, I need your vote."
Mike Millner (Chapel Hill, NC)

"Read my lips—no new taxidermy."
Eric Kneedler (Bethesda, MD)

"O.K., who pooped on the lectern?"
Michael Morris (New Haven, CT)

My loser:

"I assure you it's safe to come out. Sarah Palin is on the campaign trail now."

In Anti-Caption Contest 167, the winner is

"Wait...this isn't the Bowling Green Hilton...guys, where am I?"

"We must continue with the speech senator."

"What's going on? I feel strange..why are we here?"

"We must continue with the speech senator."

"Everything looks so different..where are the people...why aren't they clapping??"

"Nothing is wrong. The speech requires that you go on senator. We must continue with the speech."
simsburybear

My loser:

"What I'm sayin', my friends, is that Sarah Palin is lookin' out for you, Joe the Snake, and you, Joe the Bird, and you, Joe the Bear, and you, Joe the Wolf, and you, Joe the Other Wolf, and you, Joe the Bird, and you, Joe the Feline, and you, Joe the Frog, and you, Joe the Tree-Climbing Dog, and even you, Joe the Young Moose...."

The results of Anti-Caption Contest 168 (Tom Cheney's long arm serving food) are not yet available.


Caption Contest 170 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 170 is here.


THE STANDINGS

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

29 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)

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania

5 Connecticut (two from New Haven, three not)
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 Maryland (none named Mary)

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 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

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTESTS CONTINUE!

The winner of Caption Contest #79 (sideways apartment building) is

"The elevator takes some getting used to."
Terry McGurn (Reston, VA)

The fine nominees for Caption Contest #81 (man on phone at duplicate desks with duplicate nameplates) are

"O.K., I've backed everything up. Now what?"
David Barrow (DeKalb, IL)

"Actually, it was more of a lateral move than a promotion."
Gary Tunnicliffe (New York, NY)

"Two for the price of one? Yes, I may very well be interested."
Jennifer Lynn Weston (Hamden, CT)

My loser (a shorter, New Yorkerized version of what I submitted to the Anti-Caption Contest last week and this week [see below]):

"Hello? Hello? Yes. Yes. Fine. Fine. Okay. Okay. Bye. Bye."

At Anti-Caption Contest #82 (sketchily drawn Adam fleeing Eden with cellphone in hand, topless Eve by his side), the winner is

"Hello ACLU? We're being harassed by a religious fanatic."
al in la

My many losers:

"You booked us here, Henry--now the least you can do is get us a refund!"

"Hef? Can we go back to Playboy? We're still not wanted at The New Yorker!"

"It's an emergency, Doc! I grew a navel but lost my toes, five fingers, a rib, and my neck. And Eve? She's missing one finger--and her penis!" [I thought this one was clever.]

"We just lost our shirts buying scalped tickets to see Kristin Chenoweth in The Apple Tree--and now we can't even find Studio 54! Which street is it on, again?"

"Hello? Hello? Yes. Yes. No. No. Fine. Fine. Not right now. Not right now. Tonight. Tonight. At 8. At 8. What? What? All right. All right. Okay. Okay. Bye. Bye."

Caption Contest #83 is here. Anti-Caption Contest #83 is here.


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

14 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 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
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 New Hampshire
2 Texas
2 Utah
2 Virginia

1 Arizona
1 Iowa
1 Mississippi
1 Missouri
1 New Mexico
1 Ohio
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

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTESTS CONTINUE! It's no surprise that this week's winning New Yorker caption comes from New York. As you might recall, all three candidates came from the Empire State, ensuring that the land of George "Pay Up" Pataki would emerge from a three-way tie with a fourth win, securing third place behind leaders California (eight) and Pennsylvania (five).

What's noteworthy is that the Contest #42 winner (man at desk seated in electric chair), is by Richard Nathanson of New York City:

"Cancel my twelve-oh-one."

With that, the Big Apple continues to carry New York State as the source of all of its New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest winners.

New York will not gain any ground in Contest #44 (troops with mime in what might be wartorn Iraq), as the candidates hail from New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Washington, DC. I'm leaning toward DC's candidate, by Mark Chalfant:

"O.K., send him in. But this goes against the Geneva conventions."

I know you're just dying to compare that with my losing submission, so here you go:

"I never thought searching for comedy could be this hard."

I think mine might be more clever than you think. Whatever.

Over at Dan Radosh's Anti-Caption Contest #45 (Gahan Wilson's couple in hallway with gravity-defying toddlers), Dan Radosh recognized a whopping nine anti-captions, singling out

"I think you'll find Professor Xavier's Vocational Academy for Moderately Intelligent Mutants to be both fascinating and yet oddly depressing."

by Tim C. as the winner.

My losers were pretty sucky but clearly not sucky enough:

"No matter what you see here, don't loose your sense of perspective." [sic]

"That's right: $100,000 down, then $10,000 per month to keep you off Page Six. And no one will know except the two of us!"

Here are Caption Contest #46 and Anti-Caption Contest #46.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

HAPPY HENRY MILLER DAY! Here's to the Manhattan-born, Brooklyn-raised writer whose novels were banned for years in his own homeland!

Henry Miller (who was born 115 years ago) is the subject of one of the best blogs I've visited: Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company: A Henry Miller Blog. Blogger RC claims "I am NOT an expert on Miller, just a long-time enthusiast. If I keep this blog up, however, I just may become the expert I now warn you I am not." I think that happened a long time ago.

RC suggests that one "randomly open a Miller book on December 26th and find a passage to read aloud in honour of Henry's birthday." Okay...let's see...here's a section from early in Plexus. The narrator "Miller" and his wife, Mona, have been greeted on Second Avenue by an "effervescent" Yiddish writer named Nahoum Yood (a friend of one Arthur Raymond) who takes them to a little "Roumanian place" in a cellar on Hester Street. There, Miller encounters a former work associate named Dave Olinski, who had been detested by his colleagues on Grand Street.

Since he left our employ, he was telling me, he had become an insurance salesman. In fact, he hadn't exchanged more than a few words when he began trying to sell me a policy. Much as I disliked the fellow, I made no move to shut him off. I thought it might do him good to practice on me. So, much to Nahoum Yood's disgust, I let him babble on, pretending that perhaps I would also want accident, health and fire insurance too. Meanwhile, Olinski had ordered drinks and pastry for us. Mona had left the table to engage the proprietress in conversation. In the midst of it a lawyer named Mannie Hirsch walked in--another friend of Arthur Raymond. He was passionate about music, and particularly passionate about Scriabin. It took Olinski, who had been drawn into the conversation against his will, quite a while to understand who it was we were talking about. When he learned that it was only a composer he showed profound disgust. Shouldn't we go maybe to a quieter place, he wondered. I explained to him that that was impossible, that he should hurry up and explain everything to me quickly before we left. Mannie Hirsch hadn't stopped talking from the time he sat down. Presently Olinski launched into his routine talk, switching from one policy to another; he had to talk quite loudly in order to drown out Mannie Hirsch's voice. I listened to the two of them at the same time. Nahoum Yood was trying to listen with one ear cupped. Finally he broke into a hysterical fit of laughter. Without a word he began reciting one of his fables--in Yiddish. Still Olinski kept on talking, this time very low, but even faster than before, because every minute was precious. Even when the whole place began to roar with laughter Olinski kept on selling me one policy after another.

When I at last told him that I would have to think it over, he acted as if he had been mortally injured. "But I have explained everything clearly, Mr. Miller," he whined.

"But I already have two insurance policies," I lied.

"That's all right," he retorted, "We will cash them in and get better ones."

"That's what I want to think about about," I countered.

"But there is nothing to think about, Mr. Miller."

"I'm not sure that I understood it all," I said. "Maybe you'd better come to my home tomorrow night," and therewith I wrote down a false address for him.

"You're sure you will be home, Mr. Miller?"

"If I'm not I will telephone."

"But I have no telephone, Mr. Miller."

"Then I will send you a telegram."

"But I already made two appointments for tomorrow evening."

"Then make it the next night," I said, thorough unperturbed by all this palaver. "Or," I added maliciously, "You could come to see me after midnight, if that's convenient. We're always up till two or three in the morning."

"I'm afraid that would be too late," said Olinski, looking more and more disconsolate.

"Well, let's see," I said, looking meditative and scratching my head. "Supposing we meet right here a week from today? Say half-past nine sharp."

"Not here, Mr. Miller, please."

"O.K. then, wherever you like. Send me a post card in a day or so. And bring all the policies with you, yes?"

During this last chitchat Olinski had risen from the table and was holding my hand in parting. When he turned round to gather up his papers he discovered that Mannie Hirsch was drawing animals on them. Nahoum Yood was writing a poem--in Yiddish--on another. He was so disturbed by this unexpected turn of events that he began shouting at them in several languages at once. He was getting purple with rage. In a moment the bouncer, who was a Greek and ex-wrestler, had Olinski by the seat of the pants and was giving him the bum's rush. The proprietress shook her fist in his face as he went through the doorway headfirst. In the street the Greek went through his pockets, extracted a few bills, brought them to the proprietress who made change for him and threw the remaining coins at Olinski who was now on his hands and knees, behaving as if he had the cramps.

"That's a terrible way to treat a person," said Mona.

"It is, but he seems to invite it," I replied.

"You shouldn't have egged him on--it was cruel."

"I admit it, but he's a pest. It would have happened anyway." Thereupon I began to narrate my experience with Olinski. I explained how I had humored him by transferring him from one office to another. Everywhere it was the same story. He was always being abused and mistreated--"for no reason at all," as he always put it. "They don't like me there," he would say....