Pearls Before Swine

For a few years now, one of my favorite comic strips has been Pearls Before Swine. The simply drawn strip has animal characters with straightforward names. The pleasingly dense Pig and the over the top sadistic Rat come into contact with a host of other characters - Zebra, Croc, etc. Rat even recently discovered the narcissistic joy of blogging.

I subscribe to the online comics provider, comics.com who sends me a daily email of my favorite syndicated comics, this one included. Since I'm a bit of a comic hound, I also subscribe to
mycomicspage.com where I'm also able to select from a slew of comics. It's from this second site that I'm also able to get an almost daily dose of political comics - some of which can really hit the spot. I think that this is what helped me through the last presidential election - masking my pain with all of the laughter. I highly recommend both of these services, as they were the main reason I ever subscribed to the newspaper anyway.

Houseplant Picture Studio

Very soon, the web shall bid a fond adieu to one of my favorite places to waste time, Houseplant Picture Studio. A veritable bounty of found art, this site collects images found at flea markets, thrift stores, and basements across the country. I was hit with a strong wave of nostalgia recently when they posted a whole series of photographs from Dayton in the 70s. I don't normally get nostalgic, but the hairstyles, facial hair and general body shapes of people took me back. If you were to take the same photos today, you'd have shorter hair, no mustaches and much much fatter people.

Today: The Comic

Here's a fun concept - take a current news story and turn it into a comic. Sounds like what political cartoons do, right? Well, the fine fellows (or fellow?) over at Today: The Comic pulls out all of the stops to create a fun bi-weekly comic ripped directly from the headlines. You'll read all about how Osama Bin Laden's niece posed for racy pictures, as well as other fun tidbits like how a man recently died because he dodged some flying shrimp at a Japanese restaurant. Sounds like something from The Onion, but no, these come from real stories of the weird. Oh, the fun you will have.

And be sure to pick up your very own custom trucker cap.

One Self

DJ Vadim's new project isn't really your typical DJ Vadim. The new One Self project includes Yarah Bravo and Blu Rm 13 and comes together sounding like a modern day Digible Planets to me. The one place that the new project has over on the 'Planets is that Yarah Bravo can actually rap in time. I always loved the general style of Digable Planets, but it drove me nuts that they couldn't actually pull themselves out of their overly-stoned state to rap with the beat. I remember seeing a show in the mid 90's where Spearhead opened up for Digable Planets, and Michael Franti's crew just blew the Planets off the stage. You know you suck when the opening band puts you to shame.

One Self has grooves that draw you in, and is well worth the purchase price. At very least, be sure to check out the single "Bluebird" it draws you in and will surely have your head bobbing with the funky beat.

Ugly Duckling

Where have I been? I just heard the hip-hop group Ugly Duckling for the first time today.

This three piece group reminds me of the fun old house party days, back when most people still referred to the genre as "rap." Their CD Taste the Secret reminds me of the early Pharcyde CD Bizarre Ride II mixed in with a little House of Pain style white-boy rap - complete with little skits between and often during the songs.

The beats are infectious and catchy. You'll surely be tapping your toes to the beat. As for lasting power, I'm willing to bet that I won't be listening to this CD from beginning to end many times. The skits get kindof annoying after a while, but there are a number of songs that I'll put into other mixes, including my favorite, Rio de Janeiro. Find it in the used bin and you'll have some fun with it.