A rather depressing bit of news this morning…Bill Amend, creator of the comic strip “FoxTrot,” recently announced that his strip would cease its daily publication schedule and run new strips only on Sundays. In an age where some of the world’s worst comic strips manage to stick around, it’s a shame that a strip like “FoxTrot” can’t keep up with the pressure of filling the void. Amend noted that “classic” “FoxTrot” selections would be run on his website each day.

Some recommended reading to help you get your daily dose of new comics includes “Pearls Before Swine” and “Get Fuzzy.” And while you’re reading your archived “FoxTrot” online, check out the syndicated “Peanuts” strips or dig through the final thirty days of “Calvin and Hobbes.”

I’m almost surprised, living in a city where the now-deceased top alternative rock station would release a yearly “Sonic Sessions” compilation of popular artists in various stages of being unplugged, that I’ve always taken for granted the difference between an acoustic set and the sound you wind up hearing on a finished CD. When I saw Matthew Ryan perform selections from his new release, From a Late Night Highrise, as part of a set with three other indie singer/songwriters, I assumed that the sound I heard that night would be matched on the CD. I was wrong, and I’m not quite sure that’s a good thing.

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Welcome to Ouarzazate, Morocco. Have I made any Aladdin jokes yet? Ah, well, here come some more. “Oh I come from a land, from a far away place, where the caravan camels roam. When they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face…it’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” Interestingly, those lyrics were actually written with LynLyn in mind. And not matter what you think of the strategery that goes on in this leg, Morocco was the tenth pit stop…in a racearoundtheworld. Last week, your humble recapper was still digesting Thanksgiving dinner and didn’t get to post a recap, but let’s quickly go over what we learned: nice guys finish last. WinWin perpetuated the LoserPack alliance, basically running a terrible leg but resting on the fact that they could beat LynLyn in a footrace to the mat. LynLyn, in their first stroke of intelligence this entire race, ditched WinWin after the boys led them on something like 42 wrong turns complete with stops to ask directions. LynLyn got to the pit stop long before WinWin did, and our friendly Cho brothers were Philiminated. Let’s be honest: they brought a water pistol into the airport during the first leg; we knew they weren’t exactly the brightest racers. With WinWin out of the way, who will be eliminated….next?

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