Monday, July 21, 2014

Tweets from Sunday Night: Scientists Study Crabs

We were hoping to get a blog post in yesterday as July 20th is the date when the late American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon 45 years ago yesterday; conversely, also on July 20th, the late Turkish prime minister Bulent Ecevit decided to send Turkish troops to Cyprus to protect the Turkish Cypriot residents of the island 40 years ago yesterday. This started a short, but bloody war between Turkey and Greece over the island nation, which remains divided to this day.

Since we had a tweet from an actor pretending to be God, we wanted to use an image of George Burns, but when we couldn't find one that was suitable, we chose instead to go with the fringe minister Rev. Johnny Robertson in Martinsville, Va., who was once in a public feud with our friend and fellow blogger Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC.

Here are last night's tweets:

1. Ali Spignola (an electronics musician): I've never seen an owl that wasn't pissed off (top image).

2. WNYC (New York NPR station): A black woman (Mikki Kendell) disguised herself online to see what the Internet was like as a white man.

3) J. Freedom du Lac (features writer for The Washington Post): Can discarded sea containers help create more affordable housing, or is this mostly a gimmick?

4) Washington Post: Babies start mentally rehearsing speech long before they actually say their first words.

5) Tweet of God: I have absolutely no plan for your life (middle image, read second paragraph)

6) Charlotte Observer: :School starts Monday for 2,500 Charlotte students.

7) Baltimore Sun: Scientists tally crabs and see how reef building affects them.



Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Last 10 Films I've Seen (as of Sunday, July 13th): Lots of Indies

It's been a while since we posted a "Last Ten Films I've Seen" entry, but this week, we have overindulged in Netflix streaming in part because we really got behind on film-watching because of the World Cup. Yes, I do use the pronoun 'we' on occasions when referring to myself, but we assure you that I don't have a multiple-personality disorder!

Here are the films:

1) Elles. Poland/France. 2011. dir: Malgoska Szmovska. w/ Juliette Binoche.

2) In Another Country (image #1). South Korea. 2012. dir: Sang-Soo Hong w/Isabella Huppert

3) This is Martin Bonner. USA. 2013. dir: Chad Hartigan

4) The Imposter (image #2, Rich Little impersonating George Burns) USA. 2012. dir: Bart Layton

5) Nuit #1. Canada (in French). 2011. dir: Anne Emond.

6) Wrong Cops. Canada/USA. 2013. dir: Quentin Dupieux

7) A Girl who Walks Home Alone at Night. USA (in Farsi). 2014. dir: Ana Lily Amirpour

8) Cold Fish (bottom image of Istanbul fish market): Japan. 2010. dir: Shion Sono

9) Deliver Us from Evil. USA. 2014. dir: Scott Derrickson.

10) Carrie. USA. 1976. dir: Brian De Palma. w/Sissy Spacek and John Travolta

Thursday, July 10, 2014

World Cup Soccer Lists (4 of 4): The Names We Will Remember

Wow! We didn't realize that Arjen Robben of The Netherlands and Tim Howard of the United States look like twin brothers! For more info on world soccer, we recommend a true expert Ahmet Bob Turgut:

http://turkeyfootball.blogspot.com/

And, kudos to Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir for calling an excellent game yesterday in Argentina's penalty shoot-out win over The Netherlands, but I suspect we will see much more of Robben, who plays for Bayern Munich.

Here is our list:

1) Joel Campbell. 22. Costa Rica. Olympiacos (Greece; pictured top)

2) Arjen Robben. 30. Netherlands. Bayern Munich (pictured center)

3) Tim Howard. 35. USA. Everton (England, pictured bottom,)

4) Marouane Fellaini. 26. Belgium. Manchester U.

5) Thomas Muller. 24. Germany, Bayern Munich

6) Rais Mbolhi. 28. Algeria. CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria, where he plays goal-keeper)

7) Luis Suarze. 27. Uruguay. Liverpool (I guess we can objectively say he is the most scandalous futboler on the planet)

8) Faryd Mondgram. 43. Colombia. (no club team, he is the oldest player ever to play in a World Cup)

9) Xherdan Shaqiri. 22. Switzerland. Bayern Munich.

10) Mathieu Valbuena. 29. France. Marseilles.

11) Angel di Mira. 26. Argentina. Real Madrid.




Tuesday, July 1, 2014

World Cup Lists (3 of 4): Turkish League Players

Wow! We are still recovering from the Belgium-USA World Cup game that was won 2-1 in extra time by the Land of Tintin, though Team America saw goal-keeper Tim Howard save a World Cup record 16 saves.

Amazingly enough, there is one player_Jermain Jones_ on the American roster who plays for Istanbul powerhouse Besiktash whereas there are no American players from the current World Cup team from D.C. United.

There is also a Greek player in Theofanis Gekas who plays for the Turkish team Konyaspor.

Two of the players on this list are from the Cameroon national team which is embroiled in a match-fixing scandal regarding their 4-1 loss to Croatia, but neither of the two players listed here have been cited.

Here is our list of international players who played pro soccer in Turkey as of the 2013-14 season:

1). Pierre Webo. 32. Fenerbahce. Cameroon.

2) Jermaine Jones. 32. Besiktash. USA. (pictured top)

3) Wesley Sneijder. 30. Galatasaray. Netherlands.

4) Didier Drogba. 36, Galatasaray. Ivory Coast

5) Aurelien Chedjov. 33. Galatasaray. Cameroon.

6) Dirk Kuyt. 33. Fenerbahce. Netherlands. (pictured midle)

7) Sol Bamba. 29. Ivory Coast. Trabzonspor.

8) Fernando Muslera. 28. Uruguay. Galatasaray (plays goal-keeper)

9) Theofanis Gekas. 34. Greece. Konyaspor (pictured bottom)

10) Emmanuel Emenike. 27. Nigeria. Fenerbahce.

11) Izet Hajrovic. 22. Bosnia. Galatasaray.