A hearty hello, comment comrades - it’s once again time to peruse the best of your contributions, which make our DCist blogoverse spin right round baby, right round.

We like books – it’s no secret. And we’d like to think that you do too, which is why it’s no surprise that our Comment of the Week flutters from the keyboard of former DCist contributor MelissaMcCart, whose book snobbery was too much for our literature-addled brains to resist.

Harry Potter may top local universities’ lists, but Melissa appeals to our love of well-written condiment use thusly:

How ironic that alexandria, arlington, and dc are in the top 20 for romance and sex books, yet the local college lists are so chaste. Maybe Lolita is stiflingly retro or they're bored by Marquez characters, "daubed themselves from head to toe with peach jam" who "lick each other like dogs make mad love on the floor of the porch.”

After the jump, folks get angry at incorrect serif use - and praise tax-deductible gay seeds.

Photo by Grundlepuck.

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Some people like it, some people hate it: Mayor Fenty’s proposal to allow gas stations to perform vehicle inspections appears to be another quintessentially polarizing D.C. topic.

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No one’s really sure what, if anything, the shoes that were recently removed from Shaw’s treetops symbolized, but as always, you were not bereft of ideas.

DC1974 makes an argument for the aesthetic:

That kind of makes me sad. I've always loved shoes hanging from street lights (that was common in Chicagoland as a kid), trees and powerlines. I always thought of it as just whimsical -- like community dadaist art.

But blittle believes we might be missing a very practical usage:

That's just too much work throwing shoes up into a tree. I prefer the tie on the front door knob to signify when it's business time to my roommates.

While the always reliable OldPosterKnownAsCranky regales us with District lore:

I remember there used to be a "shoe tree" on the GW campus outside one of the fraternity houses on G Street. The rumors were that any time two frat brothers had sex with the same girl, a pair of shoes went up.

I have no idea if that rumor was true, but it did result in the campus feminists protesting the tree and the frat house, with one over-caffinated member of the womyn's group (yes, they spelled it that way) saying that her peeps would stand outside the frat house on weekends, waiting to hear the screams of girls being raped inside, and then they would burst into the house to rescue them. Ah, those were good times in the mid-90s.

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DCist commenters 1, MySpace 0.

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Listen, 20 percent of our population might not have health care, but we damn sure know when serifs are appropriate on new diplomatic license plates.

Tell ‘em, IMGoph.

that font is terrible. serifs? are you kidding me?

christ on a bike, people, hire someone who knows what they're doing for your next redesign.

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How far you would go for good food?

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blschwar probably speaks for everyone in the room regarding the website of the District's most homophobic church:

I agree, the spinning cross on their website is the bomb! However, I got more excited on their "Sow a Seed" link on their web page. I clicked on it in hopes of sowing my own gay seed. Is that tax deductible?

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There’s a lot of arguments out there that will never be resolved, simply because the two opposing sides are way too stubborn. CD vs. Vinyl is right up there, next to “Pepsi or Coke?” and, without question, He-Man v. Transformers.

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Meanwhile, the Metro was yelling at our good friend, MSto.

i did notice louder announcements at gallery place friday night but i thought it was just because i was drunk.

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And the awards go to: Peregrine Solus for best use of Latin in a username...

... and voteprime for his wonderfully lovable Otto the Orange avatar. It’s an orange with arms and legs, how could that not be the best mascot in the country?

Keep those comments coming - and register for an account. And for the love of all things holy, pick an avatar. Too many Buttersticks and not enough Ottos, people.