One of the advantages of marrying into a Cuban family is finding out about all the awesome Cuban Salsa and Tropical music you never knew existed.

Putting on some really good Tropical is like caffeine for your ears….it just makes life go with more energy.

Benny Moré, Perez Prado, Buena Vista Social Club, Afro-Cuban All-Stars…all great stuff. But the best of the best, in my mind, is Celia Cruz. This woman could SING. Especially in her later years, when she had this fantastic rasp to her (really powerful) voice…she just sounds amazing.

If you’re in the mood to try a little música cubana, and aren’t familiar with Celia Cruz, pick up a few sample tracks. Here are some of my favorites:

Azucar Negra
Por Si Acaso No Regreso
Cuándo Volverá
Tu Voz
Feliz En Tu Dia

In re-arranging the storage files today for the Sheldon originals, I came across this strip, and wanted to share it.

It’s really one of my favorite strips.

Theater-lovers! Two announcements of great import!

I’ll be in two plays in LA and NY in the next few months…

The first, “Bedtime Stories,” is a series of world-premiere one-act plays at the National Comedy Theatre, 733 Seward St., Los Angeles. Five of the one-acts are written by my wonderful wife Gloria, and the sixth by “How I Met Your Mother” co-creator Carter Bays.

Get your tickets here!

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The second play will be in New York in May: “Skirts & Flirts” will have a one-week run at The Kraine Theatre 85 East 4th Street, NY, NY 10003.

Tickets for the show can be purchased in advance here.

The casts in both plays really shine, with actors from My Name Is Earl, Spiderman 1 & 3, Malcolm in the Middle…and one immensely attractive cartoonist.

If you’re in your 20’s or 30’s, you’ll especially dig both plays…so come on out!

Sheldon reader Ryan chimes in with this fun fact regarding the 2/28 strip:

Here’s another example of Marine Marketing in Action: most “eelskin” wallets are actually made from a species that is more commonly known as hagfish. It secretes a mucus-like substance as a defensive mechanism when agitated, perhaps one of the more disgusting forms of Darwinism.

Think anyone would want to buy hagfish, slime eel, or snotfish wallets? And would Luis Vuitton make them?

On a separate note: can I just say how much I love the name “hagfish”? That’s the kind of name that you know didn’t come from a marketing team. It came from a pioneer mountainman named “Scruffy” or “Bucky”…

“See that fish, Buford? The one what with all the slime and what not? I done named it a hagfish.”

Today I learned that adding “sea” in front of any odd or ill-sounding object makes for a great naming game. Try it at home!

Here are some of the alternates, briefly considered for today’s strip:

“Sea Snot”
“Sea Freaks”
“Sea Groin Pulls”
“Sea Earwax”
“Sea Telly Savalas”

…that last one, just for sheer randomness, is wonderful.

Sheldon reader Michelle sends word of this awesome presidential development.

This ticket has 64% more Zod than any other candidate I’ve considered.

About a year or so ago, Dr. Z made a few visits around the place. And at the time, it seemed like he had some misgivings about the whole thing.

Which one has the cooler name, I wonder…the Visigoths or the Ostrogoths? “Visigoth” sounds vaguely like an painful eye condition, while “Ostrogoth” sounds like the doctor you go to for ankle and ankle-related problems.

“Oh man, I’m sorry….I can’t go see that terrible movie ‘Ghost Rider’ with you. I’ve got an appointment at the Ostrogoth at 2:30.”

In light of today’s toon, my buddy Howard Tayler sent me a link to this shirt today….pretty funny stuff.

You’ll be happy to know that the strip transcription process is starting in earnest. The Grammarians and I have started to tuck in on transcribing each and every Sheldon comic, with the goal of being able to search the entire archives using a word, phrase, punchline, character, location, prop, etc.

In keeping with today’s strip, for example, I typed in “spider”, and got these two strips, clearly showing that this is not the first time that Arthur has encountered bugs.

Try out the search function here, and bookmark for future use…as it’s getting more and more useful with every day.

(A fun word to start with is “eat”….it brought up some funny varieties when I tried it.)

How was your Presidents Day? Did you celebrate with the traditional family meal of veal cutlets and asparagus in a white-wine reduction? Did you play the traditional Presidents Day holiday games, such as “Uno: Travel Edition” and “Trivial Pursuit: The 80’s!”? Did you sing the traditional Presidents Day songs, such as Mel Torme’s Greatest Hits, Volume 2?

Ah, Presidents Day traditions…they warm the heart, do they not?

Also: my apologies for the late toon today. I was so wrapped up in my Presidents Day traditions, I made a mistake in how I uploaded the day’s toon.