Kevin Siers: You Write The Caption

The new winner

The winner:

"Do we really have to know the heat index?"

-- Brent Sheppard of Morganton

The runners-up:

"That's what happens when you conduct city business on state time."

-- Jason McMillan, Charlotte

"Boy, they shouldn’t show the national debt in public like that."

-- Jim Hood, Orchard Park, N.Y.

"Well, we knew there'd be repercussions for all the art budget cuts."

-- Brittany Henning, Charlotte

"It's kinda early for those 'Re-elect Obama' posters!"

-- with variations, from many readers

Thank you for all your entries. As usual, feel free to discuss any of this in our "Comments" section.  Just click the blue link below this post and add your observations or additional captions!

Here's a selection of some of the other better lines we received:

"Ew! Obama is wearing his Mom jeans again."

"We know Charlotte is a great city, but don't spoil our tour by showing us pictures of Cleveland, Minneapolis and St. Louis!"

Obama voters see the Constitution for the first time.

"You just don't  get it-this is light rail art!"

"I can't define it but I know it when I see it."

"No worries...I think the new Panthers defensive line will do just fine!"

"That's the same thing I thought about the streetcar idea."

“Palin/Beck 2012?”

"Relax, it's not actual size."

"While the picture of Bush disgusts us, we want his policies back."

Inbetweener post: The funniest caption yet!

Got this one in, anonymously, for this week's challenge:

Kevin, this cartoon makes NO sense -- Please not so vague!!  This is a terrible cartoon!

My first thought was that some folks still must be having a hard time grasping the concept of "YOU Write the Caption."

My second thought was that the writer's saying the bald guy with glasses is my editor.

Inbetweener post: Good news in the edit cartooning world

Careers in editorial cartooning have nosedived over the years, as one newspaper after another eliminated their staff positions, fretting about weak economies or strong opinion or both.  The South Carolina Spartanburg Herald-Journal is bucking this trend, however, by hiring Robert Ariail to produce five cartoons a week for their opinion pages.  Ariail was the cartoonist at the Columbia State for almost 25 years, and was one of the victims of the recent rash of lay-offs and cutbacks throughout the newspaper industry.  Since then, he's been freelancing and producing editorial cartoons for United Features Syndicate.  The Charlotte Observer began subscribing to Ariail's cartoons a couple of weeks ago, and we're looking forward to running even more of his national and South Carolina cartoons in the months to come.

Here's a link to Robert Ariail's website.

And here's the text of the Herald-Journal story announcing Ariail's hiring:

Editorial cartoonist Robert Ariail joins  Herald-Journal

By Luke Connell

Veteran editorial cartoonist Robert Ariail is now penning his work under the Herald-Journal banner.

Ariail's cartoons on global, national and state issues are featured in more than 600 publications across the country, and his first cartoon drawn specifically for the Herald-Journal appears on today's Opinion page.

Ariail worked as The State newspaper's editorial cartoonist from 1984 until March 2009, when he was laid off during a round of personnel cuts. He was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize — in 1995 and again in 2000 — and has won numerous other awards for his work, including five Green Eyeshade Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, a National Headliner Award in 1990, and the Overseas Press Club's Thomas Nast Award in 1997. In 2009, he became the first American to win the United Nations Ranan Lurie Political Cartoon Award.

After leaving The State, Ariail kept drawing, distributing his syndicated cartoons through United Media. Still, he wanted to work with a newspaper.

“Of course, South Carolina is a gold mine for cartooning,” Ariail said. “It's one of the reasons I didn't want to leave the state, and a reason I'm so excited about working with the Herald-Journal.”

The recession and a changing job market for journalists haven't yielded many job openings for cartoonists in recent years, and many newspapers have eliminated the positions entirely.

“I think the Herald-Journal is showing a lot of faith in the future of newspapers and of editorial cartooning,” Ariail said.

Your new challenge: July 26, 2010

Welcome to You Write the Caption, the Charlotte Observer cartoon caption contest, an opportunity to test your wit and win a prize. Each Monday, Observer editorial cartoonist Kevin Siers will post a political cartoon that needs a caption and invite readers to write one.  To learn more about our contest and see our caption writing guidelines, please click here.

Submissions must reach us by noon, Wednesday, July 28.

Enter as many times as you wish.  To submit your caption on-line, just click here to e-mail us.  (Or address your e-mail to caption@charlotteobserver.com)  Please include your mailing address and daytime phone number. To mail your caption to the Observer, address it to You Write the Caption, Editorial Department, The Charlotte Observer, P.O. Box 30308, Charlotte, NC 28230-0308. 

  For a discussion about last week's winners, please see the "Comments" section below the previous post.

Our new winner

The winner:

"Something tells me your house won't be on the market very long."

-- Kenneth Irving of Kannapolis

The runners-up:

"You say you've had enough of the Palins?"

-- Charles Randall, Cherryville

"Oh, it's built out of hope. We'll see how long that lasts."

-- Wilson Harvey, Kershaw, S.C.

"Don't tell me -- an Obama stimulus project?"

-- Richard L. Bean, Charlotte

"Yes, and when Alvin Greene is a senator!"

-- Connie Pressler, Charlotte

Thank you for all your entries. As usual, feel free to discuss any of this in our "Comments" section.  Just click the blue link below this post and add your observations or additional captions!

Here's a selection of some of the other better lines we received:

"Could you direct me to Area 51?"

"There is going to be a real estate meltdown."

"You Mexicans will try anything to get around Arizona’s new immigration law. "

"It's your electric bill, Al!"

"You'll be hearing from the INS and the HOA soon."

"These Arizona laws are really confusing!"

"In this financial climate, home values are sure to melt away."

"We need your signature on this global warming denouncement."

“Alaska’s climate is changing because of Palin’s political heat!”

"I'm telling you that you are on the wrong side of this issue, Gov. Palin."

"We can give you a 30-hour mortgage."

"Here's more compelling evidence that proves global warming doesn't exist."

"Sir, I’m from Freddie Mac and I assure you that this is the right location for your new home."

Your new challenge: July 19, 2010

Welcome to You Write the Caption, the Charlotte Observer cartoon caption contest, an opportunity to test your wit and win a prize. Each Monday, Observer editorial cartoonist Kevin Siers will post a political cartoon that needs a caption and invite readers to write one.  To learn more about our contest and see our caption writing guidelines, please click here.

Submissions must reach us by noon, Wednesday, July 21.

Enter as many times as you wish.  To submit your caption on-line, just click here to e-mail us.  (Or address your e-mail to caption@charlotteobserver.com)  Please include your mailing address and daytime phone number. To mail your caption to the Observer, address it to You Write the Caption, Editorial Department, The Charlotte Observer, P.O. Box 30308, Charlotte, NC 28230-0308. 

  For a discussion about last week's winners, please see the "Comments" section below the previous post.

The latest winner!

The winner:

"If the DNC hopes to fund a convention in this town, she's gonna need a bigger cup size."

-- Sandy Moore of Indian Trail, N.C.

The runners-up:

"Our future is Dem."

-- Douglas R. Cox, Albemarle

"We're braying for the convention."

-- Gary Ellison, Davidson

"Now we will be known as the Queen Pity."

-- Charleen Bolt, Charlotte

"Queen Charlotte sure has an asinine look lately!"

-- Rodney Robinson, Lincolnton

Thank you for all your entries. As usual, feel free to discuss any of this in our "Comments" section.  Just click the blue link below this post and add your observations or additional captions!

Here's a selection of some of the other better lines we received:

"This city is highly unconventional."

"Charlottans."

"A mule and his money are soon parted."

"Queen Charlotte is looking a little different since Mayor Fox took office."

“If we have to spend $40 million to sell ourselves to the Democratic National Convention, then maybe we should call her ‘Queen Harlot’!”

“The political winds are blowing back to the right!”

"DNC = Do Not Contribute."

"If it doesn't land the Democrat Convention it might get us a rodeo."

"All parasites need a host."

“A small concession to get the 2012 Democratic convention!”

"It truly represents our Demographics."

"Begging is so unconventional."

Please join us again Monday, July 19, for a new cartoon caption challenge.

Remembering Harvey Pekar

From Michael Cavna's Comics blog:

HARVEY PEKAR characterized himself as a flunkie of a hospital file clerk. What he really filed, for decades, were some of the most powerfully autobiographical stories the comics world has ever seen.

Spurred by good friend and fellow jazz enthusiast R. Crumb, Pekar put his compellingly quirky and poignantly honest stories to paper. Comic-book paper. And the artists who graced what became the "American Splendor" comic-book series included a host of top talent -- from Crumb (the first) to Spain Rodriguez to Frank Stack to Joe Sacco, among many others.

Today, all the collaborators in Pekar fandom -- all of us millions who read him with admiration as we received his inspiration -- mourn his passing. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported [Monday] that Pekar was found dead at 1 a.m. by his wife and creative partner, Joyce Brabner.

Cavna's blog includes a number of great tributes to Pekar from other writers and cartoonists, including Neil Gaiman and Ted Rall.  Here's the link.

From the New York Times obituary:

Harvey Pekar, whose autobiographical comic book “American Splendor” attracted a cult following for its unvarnished stories of a depressed, aggrieved Everyman negotiating daily life in Cleveland and became the basis for a critically acclaimed 2003 film, died on Monday at his home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He was 70. . . .

Mr. Pekar (pronounced PEE-kar), who toiled for nearly 40 years as a file clerk in a Veterans Administration hospital, applied the brutally frank autobiographical style of Henry Miller to the comic-book format, creating a distinctive series of dispatches from an all-too-ordinary life. His alter ego, introduced in 1976, trudged on from episode to episode, quarreling with co-workers, dealing with car problems, addressing family crises and fretting over money matters and health problems.

“Harvey was like the original blogger, before there was an Internet,” said Dean Haspiel, an artist who worked with Mr. Pekar on “American Splendor” and “The Quitter,” his memoir. “He was ‘Seinfeld’ before ‘Seinfeld.’ Comics, which had been power fantasies for 12-year-old boys, could now be about anything.”  . . .

The cantankerous Mr. Pekar, who published the first 15 issues of “American Splendor” himself, became a regular on “Late Night With David Letterman” for two years in the late 1980s, until he went on a memorable tirade against General Electric, the parent company of NBC, and was dropped for several years from the show’s guest list.

Here's a link to an interview with Pekar on NPR's "Fresh Air."

Below is the video clip of Pekar's infamous episode on the David Letterman Show.

Your new challenge: July 5, 2010

Welcome to You Write the Caption, the Charlotte Observer cartoon caption contest, an opportunity to test your wit and win a prize. Each Monday, Observer editorial cartoonist Kevin Siers will post a political cartoon that needs a caption and invite readers to write one.  To learn more about our contest and see our caption writing guidelines, please click here.

Submissions must reach us by noon, Wednesday, July 7.

Enter as many times as you wish.  To submit your caption on-line, just click here to e-mail us.  (Or address your e-mail to caption@charlotteobserver.com)  Please include your mailing address and daytime phone number. To mail your caption to the Observer, address it to You Write the Caption, Editorial Department, The Charlotte Observer, P.O. Box 30308, Charlotte, NC 28230-0308. 

  For a discussion about last week's winners, please see the "Comments" section below the previous post.

The new winner

The winner:

"I just gave him his life black!"

-- Mike Haas of Mooresville

The runners-up:

"I told you we'd cover the bills!"

-- Richard L. Bean, Charlotte, and Billy Grooms, Davidson

"Things always look darkest before Dawn."

-- Dale Stout, Colorado Springs, Col.

"It's easy to brush off!"

-- Carole Mills, Charlotte

"Our new strategy is survival of the slickest."

-- Elizabeth Damesek, Charlotte

These containment units are working!

-- Carol Dzvonik, Davidson

"Members of Congress, I give you the bird!"

-- with variations, from many readers

"I can't comment on this bird's health, I'm not an ornithologist."

-- with variations, from several readers

Correction:  June 21st runner-up winner Bill McGloughlin's name was misspelled.

Thank you for all your entries. As usual, feel free to discuss any of this in our "Comments" section.  Just click the blue link below this post and add your observations or additional captions!

Here's a selection of some of the other better lines we received:

"The duck stops here!"

"Don't you just hate these oilier-than-thou attitudes?"

"Even though I have to eat crow, I would prefer it unleaded."

"I guess what's good for the goose isn't necessarily good for the gander."

"Whatever....I just want my life back."

"I love the small people".

"Ok, you journalists can stop with all the sargassum. "

"Birds just mess up my yacht, anyway."

"Look what we're doing for the travel industry! Not so many birds to threaten airline safety!"

"The bird is the one that’s marinated, so why are you grilling me?"

"He has more experience with this than do I."

"We have something in common, a very large bill."

One is an oily bird brain. The other…a pelican.