12th Annual Rutabaga Curling Championship - the winning roll

The dramatic winning roll of this world-class annual event at the Farmer's Market in Ithaca, New York, which took place in December 2009.  ARSI sends its congratulations to all participants for another spirited contest.

And here's a look back at the memorable Podium Moment and victory speech from the 2008 competition:



And, finally, a rousing Rutabaga Chorus from the choir in 2008:

Artist of the Month: David Gilhooly and his "Frog Series"

Gilhooly's Work of the Month:  "Frog Seducing a Rutabaga in an Overstuffed Armchair" (1974)

This courageous and groundbreaking work, best viewed as an animated GIF, delicately explores the amorous lives of a rutabaga and a frog.  It's part of the collection of the Burlington Art Centre (Ontario), which describes the work as follows:

"Frog in blue jeans and a sleeveless shirt with a turnip [sic.] on its knee in a stuffed rose-coloured armchair with wooden feet; made during the time Gilhooly was in Canada."  [With respect, I suggest that it's time for the curators of the BAC to appreciate the obvious differences between rutabagas and turnips.]

Rutabagas in literature: "From beyond the stars..."

As the literary influence of the rutabaga expands on earth, new horizons are rapidly opening up in space.  Quentin Dodd's novel is a case in point.  

Publisher's Weekly offers the following summary:  

"In the spirit of Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker series comes a spunky debut novel about teenage science-fiction fans recruited by feuding alien races to serve as commanders in a major battle. Everyboy Walter Nutria agrees to help the Lirgonians, who look "like chubby middle-aged men... [in] too-tight pajamas with built-in feet, mittens, and hoods." His almost-girlfriend Yselle ("It's not like we've been out on dates or anything, but we watch movies together all the time," says Walter) is strategizing for their enemy, the Wotwots, who look like giant rutabagas. It's a wild ride, especially since the spaceships break, mysterious mice keep stealing everything in sight, and neither group of aliens has any military skill or even common sense. They're especially given to kvetching about each other: "I don't have to take this from the culture that plays kazoos at its weddings!" screams the Wotwot captain. Eventually, the teenagers convince the aliens to unite in persecution of the havoc-wreaking Space Mice, and they all wind up saving the universe from a power-mad villain named Doctoral Candidate X. This is not for readers who like their characters rational: people risk their lives out of boredom and believe unbelievable lies. But Dodd's agenda is laughs, and his extravagant imagination matches well with his flippant writing style. A lighter-than-air read that opts for wit over logic. Ages 10-up."