In today’s sprite bonus strip, one of the rumormongers is looking for a prediction on the winner of Rumormonger Idol.

(It may be a little early for a prediction, though… the poll is tied!)

Today’s bonus: the judges comment on the final round of Rumormonger Idol! (What did you think?)

And the final round poll is up, so now it’s up to you who gets kicked off!

Rumormonger Idol is down to the final contestants! (And strangely enough, neither one is an actual rumormonger…)

Vote today and see Contestant 2 and Contestant 4 giving it their best! (We hope!)

My digital camera isn’t very good at taking pictures of people at a distance. The only zoom function it has is the digital “just take *part* of the picture” zoom, which results in the same low-quality picture I can get myself by just taking the picture and cutting out the part I want myself.

I noticed the (lack of) zoom problem a couple times this weekend – in one picture, the slightly out of focus and pixellated bit in the middle is Angela Kinsey and Brian Baumgartner (Angela and Kevin from The Office) at the Steamtown Mall. In another, it’s Richie Havens at the Fine Arts Fiesta in Wilkes-Barre. In a third, it’s Melanie, also at the Fine Arts Fiesta. And I suppose I should be happy I can tell them apart!

Okay, maybe not that bad, but not great, either. The Fine Arts Fiesta shows *sounded* good, anyway, which was really the point of going. (And the weather stayed nice, for the most part, so when Melanie was singing “Lay Down (Candles In The Rain),” it wasn’t raining, which was good, since we didn’t have an umbrella with us!)

Where the camera is at least adequate (any problems are most likely my fault, not the camera’s) is in taking pictures of Ebb with 45s, such as the one above, which shows him with a slightly scratchy (but playable) spare copy of “Stand Tall” by Burton Cummings. The outer edge was traced for the planet in the first and last panels of today’s comic, and the inner hole was traced for the plotter’s pod after it landed in the third panel. (And all tracing was done carefully, so as not to damage the 45. It may be a spare, but I don’t need it any scratchier!)

And finally, getting back to art, here’s a painting my sister Elizabeth and her husband Jaime painted, scanned, and sent to me:

Next to the parked flying saucer, you can see Ebb (or one of his relatives) nicely lit by the sunset (or sunrise). (Click the picture to see it bigger!)

In addition to today’s V3 strip, all three spinoffs have updated! Z7, Ebb’s Children, and Silence in the Darkness on Q16 all have new strips today.

And if that’s not enough, there are two new voting bonus sprite strips up today (here and here) in which Ebb, the Plant, and some rumormongers are looking forward (more or less) to the final round of Rumormonger Idol!