Top Ten Comics from the Sunday Roanoke Times: We Like the Censored Pearls Before Swine

Today, comic strip artist Stephan Pastis said the latest edition of his strip "Pearls Before Swine," which made fun of extreme political correctness (the example he gave was when stewardesses starting being referred to as flight attendant), was not shown in "The Washington Post" yesterday.

But, the strip, which is hardly as political as "Mallard Fillmore" on the right or "Doonesbury" on the left, was our top pick before we knew that the strip was removed. While we noticed two different strips for "Pearls Before Swine," we suspected that it was something Pastis had deliberately done himself.

At any rate, here are the top ten strips from this past week. They include not just 'Pearls,' but also Dave Coverly's "Speed Bump," which asked what it would be like if inmates at places like the Dan River Correctional Facility in Yanceyville, NC, had yearbooks, a "Doonesbury" swipe at the right-wing dogma haunting the GOP and a satire of workplace politics in "Dilbert," where the big boss man proclaims: "The key to success is ignoring the people who say it can't be done." The boss is immediately questioned.

Here is our top ten:

1. "Pearls Before Swine" (the reason for the vintage for the Turkish Airlines flight attendants photo at the top)

2. "Speed Bump" (the reason why we have a scene with Clint Eastwood from "Escape from Alcatraz.")

3. "Doonesbury" (the reason for the Republican boxer shorts)

4. "Dilbert"

5. "Funky Winkerbean"

6. "Jump Start"

7. "Get Fuzzy"

8. "Agnes"

9. "Zits"

10. "The Mutts"


http://www.gocomics.com

http://www.doonesbury.com

http://www.dilbert.com

http://www.turkishairlines.com

http://www.roanoke.com

Top Ten Comics from The Sunday Washington Post: A Slinky, A Slinky.........

Slinkies, soccer games and sharks were some of the items brought forth by the Sunday comic strips section of "The Washington Post."

"Lio" gets our gold medal as artist Mark Tattulli imagines a ten-year-old boy (his title character) is chased down by a giant Slinkey (see top image) as the first day of spring arrives. Of course, if Lio lived in Washington, DC, or Baltimore, he might notice that it was snowing on the first day of spring.

"Knight Life" takes the silver medal as Keith Knight returns to his popular 'Life's Little Victories' segment, which includes turning on a soccer game just in time to catch a 0-0 tie-breaking score, which is why we have former Turkish soccer star Hakan Sukur (pictured center) here; he played for Istanbul powerhouse Galatasaray. Alas, since I've made fun of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, this blog may well be blocked in my late father's country.

"Speed Bump," which depicts what would happen in dogs drank too much caffeine, gets our bronze medal. "Sherman's Lagoon," comes in fourth, as it depicts a hilarious fishing trip between Sherman the Shark and his hermit crab buddy in which Sherman asks which bait is best for 'catching humans.' Hopefully, Sherman is not hanging out in Myrtle Beach, SC.

"WUMO," the Danish import which we ranked seventh, features an alien running into a woman and her young son at a neighborhood gas station.

Other comic strips which narrowly missed the top ten include "Prickly City," "Reply All" and "Judge Parker."

Here is our top ten:

1) Lio

2) Knight Life

3) Speed Bump

4) Sherman's Lagoon

5) Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

6) Pearls Before Swine

7) WUMO

8) Foxtrot

9) Frazz

10) Rhymes with Orange

http://poof-slinky.com/ (Link to Slinky)

http://www.gocomics.com/lio

http://www.gocomics.com/theknightlife

http://www.gocomics.com/speedbump

http://shermanslagoon.com/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/comics/

http://www.visitmyrtlebeach.com/

March Madness Finale: NCAA Tourney Teams with Women's Gymnastics Programs

We conclude our five entries dedicated to the NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness, with a look at ten schools who made the Big Dance that also happen to have women's gymnastics programs. In total, 30 schools of the men's basketball field have women's gymnastics team. Of the ten teams listed here, only three are still in the tournament:

1) Florida Gators * (pictured top: Florida gymnast Kytra Hunter. Amazingly enough, the Gators are ranked number one in both sports)

2) Nebraska Cornhuskers (The team's mascot Lil' Red is pictured center)

3) Western Michigan Broncos ^ (We couldn't find an image we could use of the basketball team, so we went with an image of the Broncos' hockey goalie Lukas Hafner instead).

4) Ohio State Buckeyes. ^

5) Arizona State Sun Devils

6) UNC Tar Heels

7) Michigan State Spartans *^

8) Michigan Wolverines *^

9) Oklahoma Sooners (The Sooners have a solid chance of winning the NCAAs in gymnastics)

10) North Carolina State Wolfpack.

*-Teams still in the NCAA Tournament

^- Teams that also have men's hockey programs

http://www.collegegymfans.com

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

Feline Nicknames and Mascots Amongst College Basketball Teams

Zappa the Family Cat lives in New Haven, Conn., but he roots for the Princeton Tigers instead of the Yale Bulldogs because of the Tigers' nickname (actually, unlike ESPN, we are not based in Connecticut).

Here is a look at ten schools with feline nicknames and the names of the mascots, not all of these teams made the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

1) Pittsburgh Panthers. Roz the Panther*

2) Auburn Tigers. Audie the Tiger (pictured top)

3) BYU Cougars. Cosmo the Cougar (pictured center)*

4) Cincinnati Bearcats. (pictured bottom)

5) Villanova Wildcats. Will D. Cat.

6) High Point Panthers. Prowler the Panther.^

7) Princeton Tigers.

8) Kentucky Wildcats. Blue the Wildcat*

9) Arizona Wildcats. Wilbur and Wilma Wildcat.*

10) Houston Cougars. Shasta the Cougar.

*-Teams which made the NCAA Tournament

^-Teams which made the NIT
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-basketball/mens-tournament/

NCAA Nicknames: Schools with Odd Nicknames

The University of  California Santa Cruz Banana Slugs were our first choice, but they are apparently a Division 3 school. Here are ten schools with strange nicknames. Eight of them made the NCAA Tournament; one of them made the NIT:

1) Stephen F. Lumberjacks. Nacogdoches, Tex. Soutland Conference. (pictured top, the team plays VCU tonight)

2) Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Tulsa, Okla. Conference USA (pictured center with star player James Woodard. The team is coached by '80s college basketball great Danny Manning. They play UCLA today)

3) San Diego State Aztecs. San Diego, Calif. Mountain West Conference (pictured bottom, the school won over New Mexico State last night. These are the team's two mascots).

4) Iowa State Cyclones. Ames, Iowa. Big 12. The Team plays North Carolina Central tonight.

5) Wichita State Shockers. Wichita, Kan. Missouri Valley Conference. The Shockers are undefeated (34-0) and a one-seed; they play the 16-seed Cal Poly Mustangs today.

6) UL-Lafayette Rajun Cajun. Lafayette, La. Sun Belt Conference. The team plays the 3-seed Creighton Bluejays this afternoon.

7) UC-Irvine Anteaters. Irvine, Calif. Big West Conference. The team lost to the SMU Mustangs in the NIT.

8) Eastern Kentucky Colonels. Richmond, Ky. Ohio Valley Conference. The 15-seeed plays the Kansas Jayhawks this afternoon.

9) Providence Friars. Providence, R.I., Big East. The 11-seed plays traditional powerhouse UNC tonight.

10) Presbyterian College Blue Hose. Clinton, SC. Big South.  The team had a losing record this year.


http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

http://bleacherreport.com/

http://www.sportingnews.com/

NCAA March Madness by the Numbers: Who is Levelle Moton?

Today, we are focusing on three teams from the 919 area code, which includes Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. There are four teams from this area code in the NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness. The teams include Duke, UNC, North Carolina State and North Carolina Central (Like Duke, the school is in Durham, NC). All of the images above are in reference to three of those teams; alas we don't have room for an NC State image, but we wish the Wolfpack well as they face the St. Louis Billikens.

Here are some numerical facts for the tourney, for more numerical facts, go to our sister blog http://politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com/

Here we go:

1) 20: Number of points scored by Jabari Parker of Duke against NC State in ACC semi-final tournament game in Greensboro, NC (Parker is pictured top)

2) 160-Number of miles between 16-seed Coastal Carolina from Conway, SC (Myrtle Beach) to Raleigh, NC, where they will meet top-seeded University of Virginia tomorrow.

3) 25- Number of games won by two-seeded Michigan Wolverines, the team faces the 15-seeded Wofford Terriers (Spartanburg, SC), today.

4) 11- Number of years Roy Williams has coached at UNC (The Tar Heels' mascot Rameses is pictured center)

5) 33- Number worn by Paris Maragkos, from Greece, for the George Washington University Colonials, the D.C-based school, a nine-seed, plays Memphis in the NCAA Tournament. GWU is one of six Atlantic-10 school in the tourney.

6) 71- Number of points scored by N.C. Central in the MEAC final vs. Morgan St (Baltimore, Md.) played in Norfolk, Va. The N.C. Central Eagles are coached by Levelle Moton (pictured bottom)

7) 26- Number of years it's been since Tulsa coach Danny Manning took Kansas to an NCAA title in 1988; Tulsa, a 13-seed, plays UCLA in the first round. The Bruins' coach Steve Alford, who played for the Indiana Hoosiers, was also a college hoops star.

8) 31- Number of games won by Stephen F. Austin University (Nacaogdoches, Tex.); the Lumberjacks, a 12-seed, play the 5-seed VCU Rams (Richmond, Va) in the big dance.

9) 4-Number of games Ivy League champs Harvard, a 12-seed, has lost; they are currently playing the Cincinnati Bearcats right now. Harvard is seeking second consecutive upset in the tourney; they surprised New Mexico, then coached by Steve Alford, last year in the first round.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

http://nccueaglepride.com/splash.aspx?id=splash_70

Early NCAA Tournament Tweets: Chuck Schumer Differs with the Prez

Here are some early tweets from last night when Tennessee edged Iowa in a preliminary game in the NCAA Tournament; today is expected to be the least productive day in offices across the country. And, given that Harvard is playing Cincinnati in the first round of action this afternoon, we have to wonder how many brain surgeries are being postponed.

Here are nine tweets from between 11:00 p.m.-midnight last night (eastern time):

1) Dallas Morning News: What you need to know to jump on Baylor bandwagon (top image, Baylor is playing Nebraska in the first round)

2) Iowa Basketball: Bench points Iowa 35 Tennessee 4 (but as we said the Vols won the game; they face UMass next on Friday)

3) Wolfpack Wire" Mark Gottffried says "I Like Our Spirit"

4) Yes Weekly: Traffic stopped on I-40 at exit 208, the farmer's market (this incident happened in Greensboro, we thought we'd put in one tweet off topic)

5) ESPNU: Cal Poly is only the 2nd team to an NCAA Tournament game after losing 19 games during the season (pictured bottom)

6) Hank Domin (he works for Syracuse University's athletic department): Sen. Chuck Schumer to Barack Obama: Sorry, but the Syracuse basketball team will win NCAA Tournament (Schumer is pictured center. Like Obama, he is a Democrat. Schumer represent New York state in the U.S. Senate. Obama picked Michigan State to win NCAAs)

7) Mark Peterson: One of the best days of the year is tomorrow (he is referring to today)

8) Kentucky Basketball: Who remembers when Tayshaun (Tayshaun Prince) going for 41 the last time we were in St. Louis. (T.Prince now plays for the Detroit Pistons)

9) NDSU Athletics: Doug Gottlieb with the assist to NDSU dunk master TrayVonn Wright (NDSU refers to North Dakota State University, the team plays Oklahoma today)

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament

College Gymnastics Lists (4 of4): Gymnasts from the Pac-12 Conference

Of the 12 schools in the PAC-12 Conference, eight have women's gymnastics programs (Colorado, USC, Washington State and Oregon do not), so you may not see many Oregon Ducks t-shirts at a gymnastics meet. But, here are 10 gymnastics from those eight schools which have teams, UCLA, Utah and Stanford are seemingly possible contenders for the Super Six (equivalent of the Final Four):


1) Sydney Sawa, UCLA. Senior. (pictured top)

2) Aliza Vaccher, Washington, Senior. (pictured center)

3) Stephanie Miceli. Arizona State. Soph. (pictured bottom)

4) Georgia Dabritz, Utah. Junior

5) Selynna Felix-Terrazas. Arizona. Fresh.

6) Chelsea Tang. Oregon State. Junior.

7) Ivana Hong, Stanford. Junior

8) Alice Asturias, California. Senior.

9) Leilani Alferos, California. Senior

10) Allison Northey, Washington. Soph.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

College Gymnastics Lists (3 of 4): Gymnasts from the Southeastern Conference (SEC)

Only three of 14 Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities made into the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, also known as March Madness, but there are four conference schools (Alabama, Florida, Georgia and LSU) which could make it to the Super Six women's gymnastics championships in Birmingham, Ala., in April. Interestingly enough, the Florida Gators are ranked number one in both men's basketball and women's gymnastics (the gym Gators are in fact defending NCAA champs as well). Bridget Sloan was named SEC Gymnast of the Week.

Here are 10 gymnasts from the SEC, including one Gator, one Gym Dawg and one Wildcat, who are pictured above:

1) Alaina Johnson. Florida. Senior (pictured top)

2) Cat Hires, Georgia. Senior (pictured center)

3) Kenzie Hedges, Kentucky. Junior (pictured bottom)

4) Lauren Beers. Alabama. Sophomore.

5) Chelsea Davis, Georgia. Junior

6) Amanda Wellick. Arkansas. Freshman.

7) Kaleigh Dickson. LSU. Senior.

8) Lexus Demers. Auburn. Sophomore (yes, she does share her name with a car)

9) Bridgette Caquatto. Florida. Sophomore.

10) Miranda Eubank. Missouri. Sophomore.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/

College Gymnastics Lists (2 of 4): The All-Stars

Here is a list of NCAA gymnasts who have been stand-outs all year or all during their respective collegiate careers. The order presented here by no means suggests where each gymnast stands nationally. It's interesting that both Bridget Sloan and Samantha Peszek who competed as Olympians for Team USA are from Indiana:

1) Bridget Sloan. Florida. Sophomore (pictured top)

2) Samantha Peszek. UCLA. Senior (pictured center)

3) Emily Wong, Nebraska. Senior (pictured bottom, she will compete for her third straight Big 10 all-around this weekend)

4) Nicolette McNair.. Stanford. Freshman.

5) Diandra Miller. Alabama. Senior.

6) Brittany Rogers. Georgia. Sophomore. (Rogers competed for Canada in the 2012 London Olympics)

7) Joanna Sampson. Michigan. Senior

8) Nansy Damianova. Utah. Senior (The Canadian gymnast's parents were gymnasts in Bulgaria)

9) Jessie Jordan. LSU. Junior.

10) Haley Scaman. Oklahoma. Sophomore.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

College Gymnastics List (1 of 4): The Seniors

This week we are posting lists for college gymnastics; the other sport where March Madness is underway as conference meets begin this upcoming weekend.

Here are ten seniors who are completing their college careers soon:

1) Shona Morgan, Stanford (pictured top; she's from Australia)

2) Mary Beth Lofgren, Utah (pictured center)

3) Olivia Courtney, UCLA (pictured bottom)

4) Audrey Harrison, Kentucky

5) Kristen Aloi, UNC

6) Hannah Fallanca, North Carolina State (Aloi and her both went to Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, NC).

7) Mackenzie Caquatto, Florida (The Gators are the defending NCAA champions; we didn't spell her first name right in the tags section)

8) Lindsey Fowler, Alabama

9) Sarie Morrison, LSU

10) Katie O'Rourke, Pitt

http://www.collegegymfans.com

Comic Strips Survey from Sunday Washington Post: We Love Keith Knight and Clown Gags

Greetings to those of you reading this blog in Turkey, New Zealand and Canada. And, "Gunaydin" (Good Morning in Turkish) to those of you in Baku, Azerbaijan as well.

It was a very close survey this week, and we had a number of comic strips from "The Washington Post" that we adored this week, including "Lio," "Judge Parker" and "The Argyle Sweater" which just missed making our top ten.

But, the following comic strips did make the cut:

"Rhymes with Orange:" This week, Hilary B. Price's comic had a brilliant clown gag which would have made Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman proud as the clown finds out that the man knocking at his door is a much more unsettling figure than a Jehovah's Witness.

"Sherman's Lagoon:" Once again, a great comic strip from Jim Toomey revolving around a Galapagos turtle and a shark about what they should have for dinner.

"Knight Life:" Keith Knight's strip features a vintage play on words, and a crustacean, which one might likely find more often in "Sherman's Lagoon." And, it is the one of the funniest strip episodes to take place in a bath tub.

"Reply All:" Hmmm....to talk with a friend sitting beside you at Starbucks or showing Instagram photos of your pet poodle to your friends back home in Vermont. Donna A. Lewis' strip illustrates a problem which is not just one confronting Millennials.

Here is our survey:

1. Rhymes with Orange (image #1)

2. Sherman's Lagoon (image #2)

3. Knight Life (image #3)

4. Pearls Before Swine

5. Reply All

6. Foxtrot

7. Agnes

8. WUMO

9. Dustin

10. Big Nate

http://www.galapagos.org/about_galapagos/tortoises/

http://rhymeswithorange.com/

http://shermanslagoon.com/

http://www.gocomics.com/theknightlife#.UyZ6JelOWUk/

On Stage: Boy George is Back

Yes, Boy George, the lead singer of Culture Club, a new wave pop band from the 1980s which is also going to tour this year, will be coming to a venue near you, unless you live in rural Kentucky.

The show which caught our attention is his scheduled April 21st performance at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, which will assuredly be attended by Cong. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va), Cong. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Cong. Jason Chaffetz (R-Va), which reminds of the old Frank Zappa saying: "When God invented Republicans, he showed he has a sense of humor."

Culture Club, which is known for a number of top ten hits including "Karma Chameleon," has actually toured as well in recent years, including a 2011 concert in Dubai!

Boy George also sang with Bono, the lead singer of U2, on "Do They Know It's Christmas Time at Home?"....amazingly enough, both singers cite David Bowie as a major influence on them.

The lead singer of Culture Club is actually on tour with solo shows in Europe, we think he played somewhere in Belgium last night.

And, in addition to his 9:30 Club show, which costs $35, he will be at Irving Plaza in New York on the following night, April 22nd.

http://www.culture-club.co.uk

http://www.930.com

http://www.boygeorgeuk.com

When It's 8:00 p.m. in New York, It's (now) 2:00 a.m. in Istanbul (until March 30th)

Yes, we know: "Always use people in photographs" is the conventional wisdom of journalism, but we are a bit rebellious and unconventional here at "The Daily Vampire."

On a serious note, we are saddened to hear about the death of Berkin Elvan, a Turkish youth who was hit in the head by a tear gas canister during street riots over the summer protesting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Putin act (and, we are a bit subjective here as well). Elvan's death has triggered new protests all over Turkey, but it seems that a change in power in Ankara seems unlikely even though it is assuredly what is needed now.

Here are our looks at the times in other parts of the globe as Daylight Savings Time is in effect for both the United States and Canada and perhaps elsewhere.

We are going to assume the time is 8:00 p.m./20:00 in New York, which is the reason for the Brooklyn hot dog (top image) that might get us blocked in Internet cafes in Karachi, Pakistan, or Tel Aviv, Israel, but c'est la vie say the French, and when it is 8:00 p.m. in New York, it is this time in the cities listed below:

1) Chicago/Dallas 7:00 p.m.

2) Amsterdam 1:00 a.m.

3) Dubai 4:00 a.m.

4) Buenos Aires 9:00 p.m.

5) London (pictured center) 12:00 a.m./midnight

6) Sydney 11:00 a.m.

7) Istanbul 2:00 a.m. (pictured bottom, a horse carriage driver in Burgaz Island, Istanbul)

8) Mexico City/Salt Lake City 6:00 p.m.

9) Seoul 9:00 a.m.

10) Los Angeles/Vancouver 5:00 p.m.

11) Cape Town, South Africa 2:00 a.m. (same time as Istanbul and Athens)

12) Baghdad 3:00 a.m.

http://www.visitbrooklyn.org/

http://www.visitlondon.com/

http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/home/au/en

http://www.turkishairlines.com

Republicans Who Might Run for President in 2016: The Sane Ones Vs. The Tea Partiers

In a very fascinating well-directed documentary film entitled "Mitt," produced by Netflix, about the presidential campaign on Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee states that it was amazing he got a chance that he got to run against President Barack Obama given that the GOP is now more of a Southern Baptist populist party while Romney was a New Englander Mormon wealthy man.

So, conventional wisdom is that the Republicans will go South in 2016, which may cost them in the general election in swing states, such as Wisconsin, New Mexico and Colorado, but hey I'm no Dan Balz ("Washington Post" reporter who is a veteran at covering politics).

Nevertheless, with CPAC2014 happening over the weekend in Washington, DC, last week, here we offer a look at which possible candidates will run: Some will attract the establishment (Jeb Bush) while other will attract the Yosemite Sam/ Tea Party types (Sen. Ted Cruz) who think every six-year-old boy should carry a Glock (one thing I like about blogging as opposed to reporting is being allowed to be subjective, when it's called for).

Here is the list:

1) Jeb Bush (Florida, pictured top)

2) Sen. Rand Paul (Kentucky, pictured middle) 

3) Gov. Bobby Jindal (Louisiana, pictured bottom)

4) Rick Santorum (Pennsylvania)

5) Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas)

6) Sen. Marco Rubio (Florida)

7) Gov. Nikki Haley (South Carolina)

8) Gov. Chris Christie (New Jersey)

9) Sen. Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire)

10) Cong. Paul Ryan (Wisconsin)

http://www.c-span.org/

http://www.nationalreview.com/

http://www.thenation.com/#

http://thehill.com/

http://www.netflix.com

Top 10 Sunday Comics from The Roanoke Times: Funky Winkerbean Delivers

Yesterday's touching "Funky Winkerbean" comic strip which featured a father having a dream about his son in the military who is in Afghanistan in the form of a vintage comic book cover with a young soldier on it, is our top Sunday comic strip of the week from "The Roanoke Times," a newspaper in Roanoke, Va.

Second place went to the very hip one panel comic strip "Speed Bump" where a couple visiting a bed and breakfast like the one in Vermont that was on Bob Newhart's sitcom "Newhart" in the 1980s who are being approached by bed bugs!!!

And, "Agnes" came in third as the title character goes to church with her grandmother and has a funny take on the service which does not share with her grandmother.

Here is our top ten, which includes a return of Mister Butts to "Doonesbury:"

1) Funky Winkerbean

2) Speed Bump

3) Agnes

4) Doonesbury

5) Zits

6) Get Fuzzy

7) Pearls Before Swine

8) Dilbert

9) Jump Start

10) Non Sequitir

http://www.funkywinkerbean.com

http://www.gocomics.com/speedbump

http://www.dilbert.com

Quote of the Day: Pope Francis

Since Pope Francis of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the first Pope to ever be on the cover of "Rolling Stone" magazine, who also happens to be from the land of Barcelona soccer great Lionel Messi, whom along with Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers is a spokes person for Turkish Airlines, we thought we'd quote the pontiff today:

"I love tango, and I used to dance when I was younger."

http://www.rollingstone.com

http://www.vatican.va/

http://ncronline.org/

http://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php

http://www.turkishairlines.com/

Quote of the Day: Cate Blanchett

Greetings to our blog-readers in Estonia, Thailand and Jordan.

Tonight, in honor of International Women's Day, which has been promoted on LinkedIn via Turkish Airlines as well as a Google Doodle, we are quoting the most recent Oscar winner for Best Actress, Cate Blanchett. The Australian actress, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Katherine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator," won the Academy Award for her title role in Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine," The film also featured an excellent performance from Sally Hawkins.

Here is Blanchett's quip:

"Don't you find that work, if you love it, is actually invigorating."

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

http://www.google.com

http://www.turkishairlines.com/

http://www.linkedin.com

The Last Ten French Films We've Seen: Hopefully, Godard is Pleased with Us

Here are the last ten French-language films we've seen, including "Aaltra," a VERY dark comedy that is a Belgian film which is partially filmed in Finland. It was distributed here in the United States through the Film Movement. And, it aired at 2:00 a.m. back in December on Turner Classics Movies as a film selected by comedian/actor Patton Oswalt who was guest programmer.

This month's Star of the Month on TCM is Mary Astor, who played the femme fatale opposite Humphrey Bogart in "The Maltese Falcon" (she is not French!)

Here is the list (we got this idea from "Film Comment" magazine):

Any film with an (*) is one we watched via Netflix

1) "Aaltra" (Belgium. 2004. dirs.- Gustave de Kervem and Benoit Delepine)

2) "Rules of the Game" (1939. dir-Jean Renoir; see image #1)

3) "Rust and Bone" (2012. dir-Jacques Audiard)

4) "A Woman is a Woman" (1961. dir-Jean-Luc Godard) *

5) "Les Cousins" (1959. dir-Claude Chabrol)

6) "A Burning Hot Summer" (2011. dir-Philippe Garrel) *

7) "Leaving" (2009. dir-Catherine Corsini w/Kristin Scott Thomas) *

8) "Farewell, My Queen" (2012. dir-Benoit Jacquot; see image #2 which of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands)

9) "Un Flic/A Cop" (1972. dir. Jean-Pierre Melville w/Catherine Deneuve; see image #3, which is of a K-9 officer)

10) "Hadewijch" (2009. dir- Bruno Durmont)

http://www.filmcomment.com/

http://www.netflix.com

http://www.tcm.com/

http://www.imdb.com/

http://www.filmmovement.com/

https://www.facebook.com/FrenchFilms