Let's get serious here as we finish up the Best of 2008 series. Comics. Not the most educational section of the newspaper, but certainly crucial for the general sanity and attitude of a paper's readership. There is no doubt in my mind that starting the morning with a laugh, chuckle and/or guffaw is good for both mental and physical health.

Favorite "Oldies"

Garfield - Back in the day, I checked out every single Garfield book from the library at Edwards Elementary School. It's still funny after all these years, even after Jon finally wooed Liz and Garfield decided to be nicer to people.

BC - Classic comedy. My only complaint is that The Kansas City Star does not carry it on Sundays. BC always has the best Easter comic in the section.

Doonesbury - Unlike Garfield, I did not read this comic while in grade school. The humor can be pretty dry, but intellectually indicting of political (typically Republican) figures.

Favorite "Newbies"

Get Fuzzy - Best comic ever. I've had to stop reading it in the latrine, because I found myself falling off on a regular basis due to uncontrollable laughter. Way too messy.

Pearls Before Swine - Snarkiest comic ever. Nothing is sacred. I especially enjoy the unabashed lampooning of Family Circus.

Dilbert - Excellent satire on corporate greed and office politics.

Prickly City - Political humor from a Republican paradigm, but willing to make fun of itself.

Favorite Comic that Uses no Dialouge

Lio - The Star just started carrying this selection. At first I thought the idea was dumb, but then I realized it takes a certain creativity to make people laugh without the characters saying anything. Or, maybe it just shows how lazy I am because I like the comic that requires the least amount of reading.

Favorite PG-13 Specialty Internet Specialty Comics

Studs Up - The great thing about the internet is that it gives people the space and opportunity to publish niche comics. Like this one that deals exclusively with the English Premier League (soccer). Seriously funny for those with a high EPL IQ.

Penny Arcade - Ok, so I don't get all of the strips. It's video game themed, and while I follow video games, there are a lot of people out there way more intense than I am. But when I do get the jokes, they are very funny. However, they are also very salty.

I don't watch a ton of shows. Mostly sports, PBS news shows and kids programming. Since sports and PBS news don't make for the greatest lists, we'll stick to kids programming for our highlights today. Even there, our options are limited since half the time we are watching the same two Wiggles DVDs. Well, that leaves us with Sesame Street. Hey, if you are stuck on an island with just one children's show to watch the rest of your life, the Double S is the way to go.

Sesame Street Segments I Enjoyed

!. Worm World Cup - Couldn't find a video of this one, which is too bad. They have Muppet worms replay the world cup, complete with a French worm head-butting an Italian worm. A+ for cultural relevance while teaching a worthwhile lesson to the kiddies.

&. Chris Brown Singing with Elmo -The hippest segment ever on the Double S. Elli loved it, and requested repeat viewings.

$. Destiny's Child and Elmo - It's not often that you get the full-body shot of Elmo and Grover. For good reason. Monster Muppets don't have the most flattering abdomens. They have that old-person paunch going on. I'm just glad they are thrusting that paunch all over this song.

#. Alicia Keys and (surprise!) Elmo - I didn't get to go to the Alicia Keys concert this year, but this was just like being there. Kinda.

@. Andrea Bocelli Sings Elmo to Sleep - Not going to lie. I have a little bit of a man-crush on Bocelli. Creepiness aside, if he ever wanted to sing me to sleep I'd be down. This particular segment holds the distinction of being the only Double S segment to compel me to head to iTunes and purchase a song.

?. James Blunt Grooves with Telly Monster - I didn't know Telly had it in him. Get down there, big fella.

+. James Earl Jones does the Alphabet - Ok, so I didn't actually see this one on TV. I found it when I was searching for the other clips. Who cares. That dude could read the phone book and make it sound interesting. And he's multi talented. He can also count. Gameface

=. Potty Training - Elli would not be able to pee in the toilet if it wasn't for Elmo. The Elmo potty DVD was great brainwashing, and very entertaining for daddy. And the Elmo panties have been the ONLY enduring form of bribery that have worked. Thanks, bro.

A set of list for you today. The best of Music.

My Favorite Bluegrass(ish) Songs. A list inspired by my recent weekend at Winfield. Admittedly, not all of these songs are true bluegrass, but they are all inspired and all of the heez.

L. Vertigo (stripped banjo mix) - Bono and The Edge
K. Idlewild Blue - Outkast...Any hip-hop group that can use bluegrass is getting it done creatively.
J. I Want to be Ready - Ben Harper and the Blind Boys from Alabama
I. Landslide - The Dixie Chicks...Apologies to Stevie Nicks, but this version is better.
H. The One that Got Away - Pink...Oh man, I can't wait for her new album to drop.
G. I Saw The Light (Live) - David Crowder Band
F. The Fox - Nickel Creek
E. The Long Way Around - The Dixie Chicks
D. Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven - David Crowder Band...The line that best sums up American Evangelical Christianity. "Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die"
C. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
B. The Lighthouse's Tale - Nickel Creek...They might not play it live anymore, but it's still da Bomb
A. Callin' Baton Rouge - New Grass Revival

Favorite Songs to Play on Guitar Hero III

• Miss Murder - AFI
• My Name is Jonas - Weezer
• Barracuda - Heart...Have you ever seen this video? Hilarious.
  
• When You Were Young - The Killers
• Cliffs of Dover - Eric Johnson
• La Grange - ZZ Top
• The Metal - Tenacious D
• Sabatoge - Beastie Boys
• Welcome to the Jungle - GNR
• The Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band...Perhaps the greatest moment in video game history. To beat the game you have to out-duel the Devil (who you have sold your soul to). From this point on, nothing that Guitar Hero or Rock Band do will live up to that storyline.
  

Songs I Want James Taylor to Cover - James Taylor just released an album of covers. Good move, considering he can sing songs better than 90% of the people who originally made them famous. However, the set list did not live up to my expectations. Some glaring omissions include...

~Christmas in Hollis - Run DMC
~Cows With Guns - Dana Lyons
~Comfort Eagle - Cake
~Boom - POD
~Biochemical Equation - Wu Tang Clan
~Man in the Mirrio - Michael Jackson
~Rompe - Daddy Yankee
~technologic - Daft Punk
~The Anthem -Good Charlotte

Renew and Restore

I encourage you to set goals. Everyone needs something to work toward in life.

I am currently working toward world domination. Not in the anti-christ kind of way. Nor in the realm of politics and finance. Instead, I have developed a three-headed monster of feats that each entail specific and unique challenges. To conquer one of these tasks would deserve mad props. Two of them will require divine favor. Pulling the trifecta? Nearly impossible. But nobody said world domination would be easy.

3. Attend the 2010 World Cup - I know we've talked about this before, let's take a moment to rehash this one. Kyle, Coleman and myself are working ahead of the curve to figure out how to get to South Africa, and where to stay once we get there. Between the three of us, we have a surprisingly high number of connections in the country. It is very possible that this first World Cup held in Africa will also be the only World Cup held in Africa, so it would be huge to get there. Plus, due to the relative inaccessibility of South Africa to most European countries, it should be easy to score tickets. Even if we don't win the FIFA ticket draw, I'm convinced we can get tickets for face value inside the country (unlike Germany 2006). Tickets go on sale in February, so crunch time approacheth.

2. Earn a Cooking Invite to the American Royal - I have an unofficial 4-year timeline on this one. It would entail winning at least one BBQ contest, and perhaps more. While I've progressed well in brisket and pork this year, I need more work on the consistency of ribs. I'm not highly confident in my chicken, but my father in-law is a chicken wizard, so I'm not sweating it. After attending the Royal as a spectator and judge the past two years, two things have become clear to me. First, it will be hard to get there. Secondly, we will be heavy underdogs when we do earn that invite. We are going to be the bbq equivalent of the Royals. We just won't have the resources that other teams have. You should see some of the rigs at these competitions. Some cats have over $250,000 poured into their cooking rigs. We're going to show up with three Weber Smoky Mountain cookers. Estimated Retail Value? $750. Gonna need some focus and luck to pull this off.

3. Compete on The Amazing Race - I just came up with this one a couple of weeks ago when Stacy and I started watching the Amazing Race for the first time ever. This will be super hard. But hey, we are talking about world domination here. Here's how I see it. Coleman and I would make a great team. We are very dorky. We work well together. We are uber competitive. We are multicultural. Perfect for network television. I always thought it would be fun to be on Survivor, and see how far I could get without lying. But I've since realized that (a) I'd probably lie and (b) if I'm going to be on a reality tv show, it needs to be one where they let you eat. I loose weight way to fast, and around day 17 I would be at risk of being carried off by some large bird. So we'll stick to something a little more amazing.

Renew and Restore

During my first year as a blogger, I finished the year off with a series of "Best Of" rankings. Best books, best movies, best sports moments. You know. The usual.

Then last year I started reading more blogs, and I realized that everyone and their mother was doing "Best Of" lists at the end of the year. It was like the blogosphere vomited a bunch of music countdowns where people were falling all over themselves in order to talk about how great Radiohead's last album was. I literally stopped reading blogs during the last couple weeks of 2007 since they had become congested with high levels of redundancy. I resolved to give up "Best Of" lists.

But then I had a bright idea a couple of weeks ago while we were shopping for a new frying pan at Macy's. As I saw the workers setting up Christmas stuff a good month before Halloween and a whopping 3 months before Christmas, I lamented the need for retailers to be the first to put up Christmas stuff. Then I ripped off their idea and vowed to do my "Best Of" list the second week in October. Gotta beat the holiday rush.

Here's my promise to you: no run of the mill lists this week. All original lists that you will not find anywhere else. Not now. Not in 3 moths when lists are the in thing. I won't promise that each list will have 10 items. Sometimes there just aren't' 10 best things. I also can't promise that all of these listed items were actually experienced in 2008. These are more timeless lists that exist in my heart. And I also promise not to mention Radiohead. You don't need me to tell you how good the album was. You already heard it from a bazillion other cats. Plus, I didn't listen to the album.

Kicking off our best of 2008...my favorite barbecue meats. For reasons of integrity, I'm not including anything I've actually made. Though, now that I think of it, none of my stuff would make the list. I'm waaaaay to hard on myself.

6. Gates Beef on Bread- Very classic taste. Gates flavor has a nice bite to it, and the ambiance of the joint makes up for the fact that the beef can get a bit on the dry side if you show up on an off day. That's the risk of hitting up a chain bbq joint. But it's nothing a heavy slathering of sauce can't overcome.

5. Jones BBQ Beef Sandwich - Superior meat quality to Gates. More celery seed in the rub, which might not strike every one's fancy. At first I didn't like it, but they have toned it down over the last couple of years and found a way better balance. The key to this sandwich is to get a side of baked beans. Jones has amazing beans that are sweet, juicy and have huge chunks of meat in them. I like to go sauseless, and then dip the sandwich in the bean juice.

4. Oklahoma Joes Hogamaniac (aka Hog Dinner) - Three ribs, pulled pork, sausage, pickles, texas toast and two sides. Dang. It's enough food for two people. This is my favorite meal when I have a high-stress day. I stop by a coffe shop and pick up a hazelnut latte, which is a great compliment to good meat. Plus, I think the dinner is only like $11.

3. The Shack Sampler Platter - I've only had this once. The shack is in Ocean Springs, MS. Sweet and sticky sauce. Best ambiance of any joint I've been to. Nice souther style BBQ.

2. Roy's Three Meat Sandwich - My first love. We made a lot of pilgrimages to Hutchinson, KS when I was in college just to hit up Roy's. It's the first place I ever experienced the zen of meat sweats. You can't leave that place without a saturation of smoke into your hair, clothing and skin.

1. Oklahoma Joes Pulled Pork Z Man on Texas Toast with a topping of Spicy Slaw slapped on the sandwich. The only sandwich that makes me shudder when I think of it. Meat, provolone and an onion ring. All on toast and Carolina'd up with that spicy slaw. It doesn't look like much, but you had better go gameface if you expect to finish it. And don't get it to go. It has to be eaten in the gas station, and in one sitting. Unlike any other bbq dish, it doesn't warm up well.