Mad 497

This should have been posted a couple of weeks, but my motto is "Why do today what can be put off until tomorrow." This issue presents something Mad has done annually since 1998. We have the 20 Dumbest People, Events, and Things of 2008. As I started with my previous review, I will list the articles and they either win or lose, and then the issue gets rated by the winning percentage. Of course, any rating under 50 is a loser.

The Fundalini Pages. As usual very uneven and this time it lost. The best line came under the heading Food Myths You Just Shouldn't Believe: "Cotton candy sold in American League ballparks has nearly twice the nutrients as that sold in National League ballparks". That bit and their Bitterman comic strip was all I liked from it. Lose.

20 Dumbest People, Events, and Things of 2008. I am not going to go over each one. Each item counted as 1. The first 10 were so-so, then they started clicking. Overall score out of the 20 was 14 winners, 5 losers, one what the heck, neither good or bad. My overall favorite was the Bret Favre retirement/no wait a minute I'm back story. They did it as a parody of Gary Larson's Far Side comic strip and the called it The Favre Side. Excellent artwork by Gary Hallgren. A close second was about the so-called Bigfoot found here in Georgia. Ty Templeton drew a comic book cover parodying The Incredible Hulk number 1 and it was called The Incredible Hoax. Of course some preachers and religious types were parodied including John Hagee, Jesse Jackson, and Warren Jeffs. Amazingly Josh Eiserike had this to say in the introduction to the Jesse Jackson page: "Call us crazy(yet again!),but when we think of clergymen we think of individuals of outstanding moral caliber who, taking a page from the Good Book, never speak ill of others. Like we said: call us crazy." Mad speaking good things about the majority of the preachers out there. Amazing. I give then 2 big toes up. (I would use my thumbs, but Roger Ebert has that trademarked and I don't want to get sued by him.) Win 14-5-1.

Mad 20 Hall Of Fame induction. It should come as no surprise that the recipient was George W. Bush. He was an 11 time winner, not bad considering in the 11 years of the awards he didn't win in 1998, 2001, or this year. He won twice in 2003, 2005, and 2006. He was number 1 on the list three consecutive years 2004-2006. Hopefully he will now be totally retired from this list. One prediction for next years list, Rod Blagojevich takes the top spot. We will see how good a prognosticator I am next year. Win.

Signs You'll Grow Up To Be A Degenerate Gambler. Writer and Artist:John Caldwell. I liked this. My favorite line was "Your mounting debt has occasionally prompted visits from a mob Lego breaker." Win.

A Mad Look At Hard Times. Writer and Artist Sergio Aragones. As I said last time, Sergio is one of my favorites and he rarely misses. Win.

Spy Vs Spy. Writer and Artist Peter Kuper. This was dumb, not funny. Lose.

It's A Good Brand Name...And A Bad Brand Name. Writer:Jeff Kruse. Artist Paul Coker. Very funny. One example "Piggly Wiggly: A good name for a grocery store(we have one here in Calhoun), a bad name for a strip club." Win.

Fold-In. Writer and Artist:Al Jaffee. A rare bad one. Lose.

I am also awarding this issue a bonus point, because there was no Monroe story. The final totals are wins 18, loses 8, and upraised eyebrow 1. Total score 67. A good issue.The answer to yesterdays question of course was false. Everyone but me knows that the front of the boat is the bow and the stern is the rear.

Today's question I knew I was in trouble the moment I saw those dreaded words Grade 4/Science. Science and me do not get along and even with a multiple guess I missed. The question:

The force of attraction between any two objects is called what?
A) gravity
B) friction
C) fusion.

My score so far is 3-4. To quote Ernie Banks the year the Cubs started 0-13, "I am just backing up for a running start." That's my story and I'm sticking with it.