The Daily Vampire

Top 10 Countries to Run To If GOP Whacko Becomes Prez

2012-02-09T21:39:00.001-08:00

Yes, we did essentially the same sort of list when it looked like Sarah Palin might somehow become an American president, which would probably assure the impending apocalypse that many fervent evangelists who would support her are calling for.

Since there are essentially three players left in the Republican nomination race: Mitt Romney (pictured), Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, we thought we'd mention that IFC is running two hours worth of Three Stooges shorts on Saturday starting at 10:45 a.m. The first of these films will be "The Mummy's Dummies" (1948), which was made when Gingrich was five and Romney (born 1947) was still in diapers.

Here are some possible escapes we might consider:

1) Costa Rica (pictured)

2) Russia (this blog is popular there, so why not?!)

3) Iceland (the country that was number one on the Palin escape list)

4) Brazil

5) New Zealand

6) Slovenia_ this former Yugoslavia is now a top destination

7) Finland

8) Cuba (yeah, we partly did this for shock value, but many American travel magazines have written about traveling to Cuba lately)

9) Turkey (my late father's country, and I also speak the language)

10) Sweden

SIDEBAR: The BBC is now airing a radio segment about The World Ice Fishing Championship in Kazakhstan, otherwise known as the land of Borat. As one might imagine, it is freezing in the former Soviet Republic!

Quote of the Day/Week- Woody Allen

2012-02-09T20:04:00.001-08:00

We continue our month-long series of quips from Oscar-winning film directors with a great quote from Woody Allen, who along with fellow filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, is perhaps the person we have quipped the most on our two blogs.

Allen won his Best Director Oscar for "Annie Hall" in 1977. The comedy film with his then-girlfriend Diane Keaton also won Best Picture, beating out "Star Wars." This year, Allen is nominated yet again for his most recent film "Midnight in Paris," which is also his biggest box office success.

Just this week, Allen's skit segmented film "Everything You Always Wanted to Know Sex, But Were Afraid to Ask" (1973) became the 6,000th film I voted for on the IMDB (I had first seen the film many years ago, but I didn't realize I had never voted on the film).

Since Valentine's Day is around the corner (yes, I hate it with a passion too), we thought we'd get an Allen quip on relationships:

"A relationship, I think, is like a shark. You know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark."

SIDEBAR: We have been reporting on the very impressive Harvard University men's basketball team which remains nationally ranked this week (we believe they are ranked 24th) as they stand a plausible chance of being the first Ivy League team to play in the Final Four since Pennsylvania did it in 1978.

Last weekend, Harvard won back-to-back home games (on Friday and Saturday nights) over Cornell then Columbia.

In Friday's win over the Big Red, Harvard's Canadian sophomore Laurent Rivard scored 16 points. The Crimson won the game 72-60.

On Saturday night, Harvard bested Columbia in a narrow 57-52 win thanks to 20 points from Rivard.

Harvard will play Penn-U in Philadelphia on Friday night, and then on Saturday the Crimson's road game against Princeton will be nationally televised on ESPN-U at 7:00 p.m.

Quote of the Day/Week- Lorraine Hansberry

2012-02-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

In honor of Black History Month, we continue to quote famous African-Americans and today we share a quip from playwright/activist Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) who died all too young at age 34 from pancreatic cancer.

Hansberry is best-known for her 1959 play "A Raisin in the Sun," about a struggling family residing in the south side of Chicago. Both the original Broadway stage production and the 1961 film version starred Sindey Poitier.

This month, Stained Glass Playhouse in Winston-Salem, NC, is staging "A Raisin in the Sun" (until Feb. 19th).

In the Los Angeles area, the play is also being produced by Center Theatre Group which is performing "A Raisin in the Sun" at the Kirk Douglas theatre in Culver City.

Here is her quote:

"Children see things well sometimes_ and idealists even better."

SIDEBAR: In Durham, NC, Duke University men's basketball player Austin Rivers is assuredly the Big Man on Campus as he hit a three-point shot to help the Blue Devils prevail over their man arch rival, the University of North Carolina Tarheels.

But, half a world away, the nation of Zambia is celebrating as another young athlete, soccer player Emmanuel Mayoka, a substitute, scored the game-winning goal in that country's 1-0 upset win over Ghana in the Africa Cup.

Thus, Zambia, which lost its entire soccer team due to an airplane accident in 1993, will face Ivory Coast for the continental title. Ivory Coast scored its own 1-0 victory over Mali thanks to a goal from Arsenal star Gervinha.

The Africa Cup final will be played in Liberville, Gabon, the same city where that fatal airplane crash took place.

Quote of the Day/Week- Terry Bradshaw

2012-02-08T16:04:00.001-08:00

As many cyber-experts have told us if you ask Google: "Where is the best place to get a bison burger in Denver?" you may well stump Mr. Know It All. But, if you ask: "Who is the mayor of Yozgat, Turkey"? (a medium-sized city in central Turkey), it will tell (well via Wikipedia) that the answer is Yusuf Baser.

Google will also tell you that the Pittsburgh Steelers have won six Super Bowls, with only two losses, and that quarterback Terry Bradshaw was responsible for four of those over a six year period. The last one coming against the then-Los Angeles Rams, which later won a Super Bowl many years later as the Saint Louis Rams, by a 31-19 score in 1979.

That same year The Pittsburgh Pirates won a World Series (the team has not won one since), which gave Pittsburgh the nickname of The City of Champions, a mantra which was reiterated when hockey superstar Mario Lemieux lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 1991 and 1992.

Bradshaw, now 63, can also been seen singing the Hank Williams Sr. standard "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" on Youtube (from many years ago) and he recently became the spokesperson for Nutrisystem.

Bradshaw is one of two famous athletes who graduated from Louisiana Tech; the other one is Karl Malone who played with the Utah Jazz in the NBA.

Here is Bradshaw's famous quote:

"I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid."

SIDEBAR: Though we consider ourselves to be slightly too uppity for gossip, we can't help but comment on the outrageous profanity-laced statements that Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, 31, said of the wide receivers for her quarterback husband Tom Brady's New England Patriots. For those of you in Yozgat, Turkey, the Pats lost 21-17 to the New Giants in Sunday's Super Bowl game.

Apparently, this caught on camera escapade forced Brady to defend those very same wide receivers who will in all likelihood have to play with Brady next year. One thus has to assume that Brady wasn't "Thanks, honey" when he heard of this, unless he was speaking in jest or sarcasm.

From the Record Collection (5 of 8)_ U2 "The Unforgettable Fire"

2012-02-08T09:29:00.001-08:00

Since we are discussing U2's album "The Unforgettable Fire" (1984) today, we send out special greetings to everyone in Dublin, Ireland, where the band originally formed in 1976 when lead singer Bono was just 16 years old. The band's first album "Boy" (1980) was released four years later.

This record is my personal favorite from U2, though fans of the band said on Twitter that the recently re-released "Achtung Baby" (1991) was the best album from the band. For many years, that distinction also belonged to U2's major commercial break-through record "The Joshua Tree" (1987).

But, for me, the fourth studio album from U2 will also be the most special one. It was released in October of 1984, which is a bit ironic because U2's second record (released in 1981) was called "October."

With a running time of 42:38, "The Unforgettable Fire" refers to an art exhibit about the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945.

There are two songs dedicated to African-American Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., including the landmark song "Pride (in the Name of Love" and "MLK."

The record was produced by Brian Eno, who is also known for producing many exceptional Talking Heads records, and Daniel Lanois, who worked with Peter Gabriel. In more recent years, Lanois has also worked with Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Bob Dylan.

"The Unforgettable Fire," which also includes my personal favorite U2 song "A Sort of Homecoming" a song about the contradiction between rock and roll and spiritual life, was partially recorded at Shane Castle in Ireland, and footage of the album's recording is included in the video for "Pride (in the Name of Love)."

The title track, which was the record's second single, features a stirring use of a guitar solo from The Edge.

In a recent documentary about U2's recording of "Achtung Baby," it was revealed that for that album's popular song "One" that The Edge came up with music for the song first and then Bono figured out some lyrics that would match it.

The band is widely considered to be the most prolific active band behind The Rolling Stones, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a band this year. But, unlike The Rolling Stones, U2 has maintained its lineup which also includes Adam Clayton (bass) and Larry Mullen Jr. (drums) since the band was founded.

The Rabbit Ear Test_ (6 out of 12) "Batman"

2012-02-07T18:11:00.000-08:00

Greetings to all our blog-readers, irregardless if you are in Winnipeg, Canada, the hometown of cult filmmaker Guy Maddin, or Atlanta, Georgia, where the Winnipeg Jets were playing hockey last year (they were then called the Atlanta Thrashers).

Many people born when Bill Clinton was president may not be aware that there was a "Batman" tv series, based on the hit DC Comics series, in the 1960s, which us Gen X'ers saw in reruns circa 1976 as kids. The show ran for 120 half-hour episodes, most of which aired multiple times during the week, from 1966-1968.

Though many of the actors who played the bad guys, including the pianist Liberace (he played the evil pianist Chandell, no we are not making this up), Frank Gorshin (The Riddler), Cesar Romero (The Joker), Vincent Price (Egghead) and Burgess Meredith (The Penguin) have passed away, the two main actors of that original "Batman" series are still alive.

Adam West, who played the Caped Crusader, is alive and well at 83.

But, are not going to reveal the age of Burt Ward who played Robin (pictured) because that is today's question for our quiz. So, how old is Ward; is the answer?

A) 63 B) 64 C) 65 D) 66

While, we can not disclose Ward's age until a later time (yes, I know you kids will google it), we can say that according to the IMDB, Ward was paid $350/week during the show's first season.

SIDEBAR: Italy has just passed Russia for fifth place on our top ten lists for countries where we are getting hits from. So, thanks to all you Juventus fans out there....and, oh yes, thanks to all you AC Milan fans as well (forgive the soccer humor).

Casulaties of Modern Technology (6 of 12)_ The Typewriter

2012-02-06T10:52:00.001-08:00

First of all hello to those of you in Davos, Switzerland, and Montego Bay, Jamaica, who have somehow found time to check us out today. We also wish to congratulate teh citizens of Mali, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Zambia for reaching the finals of the African Cup in world soccer play over the weekend. Lastly, kudos to Eli Manning and the New York Giants for winning the Super Bowl over the New England Patriots 21-17.

And, you thought Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich were the only ones kissing babies left and right!

Today's Casualty of Modern Technology is the typewriter. Since I am a big fan of the Tom Robbins novel "Still Life with Woodpecker" (1980) and the novelist typed the whole work on Remington SL3, that is the image we are going with today.

In his novel, Robbins even alluded to the machinery with the line: "I sense that the novel of my dreams is the Remington SL3_ although it writes much faster than I can spell."

The typewriter was also an external force in the excellent William Burroughs novel "Naked Lunch" (1959), a surreal masterpiece that was turned into a David Cronenberg film many years later in 1991.

There are many serious collectors of typewriters, including actor Tom Hanks and politcian/business leader Steven Soboroff, who has typewriters from Jack London and Ernest Hemingway in his collection.

The legacy of the typewriter, which was first invented circa 1868 remains today as the QWERTY keyboard is found on all personal computer keyboards.

Typewriters became more standard around 1910, and they were gradually implemented into newspaper journalism. The IBM selectic typewriter was developed in 1961 as a replacement for the originals. The newer typewriters were less noisy and printed more effectively.

But, by the 1980s, the world processor evolved, and typewriters were soon allegedly sent off to former Soviet republics, such as Azerbaijan, where even today, the computer is highly preferred.

Quote of the Day/Week- Elia Kazan

2012-02-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

Since the Oscars will be televised at the month, we have decided to quote Academy-Award film directors throughout February. Keep in mind that the number of acclaimed film directors who never won an Oscar is a bit shocking, as it includes the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles.

But, one film director who is a worth Oscar-winner is Elia "Gadge" Kazan (1909-2003) who won Best Director Oscars for "Gentleman's Agreement" (1948) and "On the Waterfront" (1955). His direction of the screen version of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951), written by Tennessee Williams, is frequently cited as one of best screen adaptations of a stage play.

Kazan also won three Tony Awards for Best Director, including two Arthur Miller plays "All My Sons" (1947) and "Death of a Salesman" (1949) as well as "J.B.," a 1958 play by Archibald Macleish based on the Biblical story of Job. Cult actor John Cazale, who died at age 42 in 1978, starred in a 1962 off-Broadway production of "J.B.," which was not directed by Kazan.

The son of Anatolian Greek immigrants also directed "Viva Zapata!" (1952) with his frequent collaborator Marlon Brando; a film which us Netflix users are eagerly awaiting for. Interestingly enough, in a editorial by William Kristol in the conservative magazine "The Weekly Standard," this film was cited by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as his personal favorite. The editorial was written when McCain was running as the Republic nominee for president in 2008.

Kazan also helmed a screen version of "America! America!" (1963) based on his own novel. The movie was partially filmed in Istanbul, Turkey, the city of Kazan's birth. Kazan recieved an Oscar nomination for directing that film as well.

Here is our quote from Gadge:

"A good director's not sure when he gets on the set what he's going to do."

SIDEBAR: Having just returned from The Bahamas, we wanted to recommend other potential tourists to be sure to visit the Ardasta Zoo in the capital of Nassau where one can watch a dancing pink flamingo show at 10:30, 2:10 and 4:10. It would be quite ironic if film director John Waters was at one of these shows (forgive the movie people humor).

In Baltimore, which is the hometown of the eccentric filmmaker, the Maryland Zoo is hosting an adults only Sex in the Zoo talk about the mating habits of animals. Our collective jaws recently dropped when we read about how porcupines mated in the last issue of "Mental Floss."

SIDEBAR 2: For some reason, Godzilla and Quick Draw McDraw are two of the hot links on our blog this week!

Quote of the Day/Week- Halle Berry

2012-02-01T10:02:00.000-08:00

Today, in honor of Black History Month, we are quoting actress Halle Berry, 45, who was a model before she became an actress. Berry won an Oscar for "Monster's Ball" (2001), becoming the first African-American to win a Best Actress Oscar.

Amazingly enough, three years later, she won a Golden Raspberry for Worst Actress for her performance in "Catwoman" (2004), a film where she actually injured herself and was briefly hospitalized, and then surprised the world by accepting the dubious award in person.

We were about to say she was the only person to have won both 'honors,' but we remembered (ok, we asked Google) that Sandra Bullock actually won both in the same year!

Here is Berry's quote:

"Beauty is not just skin deep."

SIDEBAR ONE: Tilly Gokbudak, the managing editor of this blog (ok, I just referred to myself in the second person) jokingly tweeted that he would put in the words Yerevan, Liberace and Newt Gingrich (who lost to Mitt Romney in Florida Republican Primary yesterday) so that Google would think he was a 'gay Armenian Republican.'

Well, he actually took this upon himself and in the process he found out through "Yerevan" magazine (a publication actually based in Los Angeles as opposed to the Armenian capital) that Armenian-American playwright Vahe Berberian's** new play "Gyank" opens at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, Calif., on March 16th.

SIDEBAR TWO: Since Tilly Gokbudak is a Turkish-American*, he thought it would also be good to mention that his two favorite Turkish soccer teams Bursaspor, from Bursa, Turkey's fourth largest city, and GalataSaray, a traditional Istanbul powerhouse, played over the weekend.

Surprisingly, the underdog Crocodiles (yes, that is BursaSpor's nickname even though we are fairly certain that if there are any crocs in Turkey, they would be in the Ankara Zoo) beat GalataSaray 1-0 on a goal in the 50th from the team's star Argentinian player Pablo Battalla.

*- For those of you living in a desert island near The Bahamas, Turkey and Armenia have bad relations; we would explain more, but Tilly Gokbudak has an urgent dentist appointment.

**- We almost didn't spell the playwright's last name correctly, but alas we don't expect any friendly emails from ANCA, the main Armenian-American lobbying group because we caught it!

Quote of the Day/Week- Joe Montana

2012-01-31T07:39:00.000-08:00

Since the Super Bowl is coming up on Feb. 3rd as the New England Patriots face the New York Giants, we are going to quote Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks for the next four weeks.

Joe Montana, 55, won four Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s, including wins over other star quarterbacks including Dan Marino (Miami Dolphins), John Elway (Denver Broncos) and Boomer Esiason (Cincinnati Bengals).

He played college football for Notre Dame (the image above is of Montana in a Notre Dame jersey):

"Confidence is a very fragile thing."

Quote of the Day/Week- Steve Jobs

2012-01-31T07:28:00.001-08:00

Today, we conclude our month-long series of quotes from people who passed away within the calendar year of 2011.

Originally, we were contemplating quoting Kim Jong-Il, the ruthless North Korean dictator whom we actually quoted in 2010 when we were quoting one person from all 32 of the countries in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. We simply couldn't find anyone else from North Korea to quip.

Our quote today though comes from Steve Jobs (1955-2011) who died at age 56 on
Oct. 5, 2011 from complications due to cancer. He was a techno wizard innovator responsible for many gadgets, such as the iPhone, the iPod and the i Pad. He is also the subject of an acclaimed, best-selling biography by Walter Isaacson.

Jobs was also technically (pardon the ironic use of the word) a Middle Eastern American since his biological father was from Syria. Isaacson said that ironically Jobs unknowingly met him as the Syrian immigrant ran a deli near Palo Alto, California,the town with Stanford University where Jobs resided.

Here is the quote:

"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."

Silly Photo to Fill Space_ John Harvard

2012-01-30T13:25:00.000-08:00

Today, we turn our attention to Ivy League sports since the men's basketball team for Harvard University (18-2) is nationally ranked, and really kicking butt. The school mascot is indeed John Harvard!

The Harvard Crimson (that is the school's nicknamed, we double-googled) beat arch rival Yale University on the road in New Haven, Conn., for just the second time in 13 ties by a 65-35 score. The team then turned around and won another road game at Brown by a 68-59 score.

Steve Mioundou-Missi, a junior from Cameroon (yes, we double-googled his name too), was named the Ivy League men's basketball player of the week.

Surprisingly, Harvard's men's hockey team had a home game against Yale on Friday, and the ice guys were also victorious as they beat the Bulldogs 4-3. The Crimson then beat Brown at home by a 3-1 margin on Saturday.

Harvard also has a strong women's hockey team this year, and they beat Yale 8-0 and Brown 6-0 (both road games) over the weekend.

This lead to Kaitlin Spurling, a junior from Byfield, Mass., being named as Harvard Athlete of the Week. Spurling scored four goals against Yale and two goals against Brown.

The men's basketball team will face Princeton on the road for nationally televised game on ESPN-U on Sat., Feb. 11 at 7:00 p.m. The last Ivy League men's basketball team to make the Final Four were the Pennsylvania Quakers in 1978.

Harvard also has water polo team's for both men and women, and recently the women's team traveled to Hungary.

Quote of the Day/Week- Vincent van Gogh

2012-01-30T13:16:00.001-08:00

We conclude our month-long series of quips from famous artists with a quote from Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), though we are not good at math, we just realized that we have outlived the Dutch master!

There is a new van Gogh exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and we were hoping to read a "Wall Street Journal" piece about it, but someone in our office threw it away by accident (whoever it was, Javier the Intern shall be blamed!). But, there is a similar article from "Newsweek" on the web which seemingly suggests that the exhibit is meant to make the art museum gazer if van Gogh was sane or not.

Here is his quote, and quite frankly we don't care about a dead man's sanity status:

"I often think that the night is more alive and more colorful than the day."

SIDEBAR: Thanks to the PRI/public radio program "The World," which airs on many NPR stations here in America, we have some catch phrases for the day: this coming from a piece about fashion and coupling in Pakistan. These catch phrases are: "What the fatwa" and "ghetto hijab."

And, for some reason, Ferris Bueller, the fictional high school teenager played by Matthew Broderick in the 1985 movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," is trending today on Twitter.

Quote of the Day/Week- Stephen Hawking

2012-01-30T13:11:00.000-08:00

Yes, we were gone for a while, but we assure it was not to a former republic of the Soviet Union, though we did travel to Azerbaijan in 2008.

Today, we turn our attention to American astronomer Stephen Hawking to conclude our month of quotes from famous scientists. Hawking, who turned 70 on Jan. 8, was the subject of the acclaimed Errol Morris documentary "A Brief History of Time" (1991).

Here is the quote from Hawking:

"It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival."

And, for those of you in Nassau, The Bahamas, hope you are enjoying your Cuban cigars which are illegal here in America.

In the News_ American Postage Stamps Increase

2012-01-22T11:12:00.001-08:00

On Monday, here in the United States, standard stamps for letters and bills will increase from 44 cents to 45 cents, though most stamps are now 'Forever Stamps," meaning they can be used even if stamp rates increase.

This image above is of the 1997 Marilyn Monroe stamp, which was part of the Legends of Hollywood stamp series.

SIDEBAR: Kudos to soccer star Clint Dempsey for being the first American to score three goals in the English Premiere League. His team Fulham defeated New Castle 5-2 yesterday.

In Turkish soccer, Istanbul powerhouse team Besiktas beat Antalyaspor 2-1 thanks to two goals from Portuguese nationals: Hugo Almeida (63rd min) and Manuel Fernandes (89th min).

Our favorite team in the Turkish league, Bursaspor fell to Sivasspor 2-1, but Argentinian star Pablo Battalla did kick one for the Crocodiles. Interestingly enough, the game-winning goal for Sivasspor, a team from eastern Turkey, came from Azerbaijani national Cihan Ozkara, who I mistook for a Turkish player (names are similar in both countries).

PSA_ Angry Birds More Addictive Than Heroin

2012-01-20T12:50:00.000-08:00

The video/computer game "Angry Birds," which was developed in Finland_ of all places (I thought the game was of Japanese origin since the birds act like kamikaze pilots) way, way back in 2009 (apparently three years is like back in Paleozoic period in terms of technology), is in my view addictive.

I should point out that I've never engaged in recreational drug activity, and my claim that Angry Birds is more addictive than heroin is meant to be humourous (we used the English spelling to see if you are paying attention!).

I could not find any stories on the web about Angry Birds Addiction in terms of psychological research studies, however the web site "Forever Geek" published an online story on Sept. 13, 2011, which said that single people are more likely to get hooked on the game since it supposedly allows for the release of anger and tension.

Angry Birds has reportedly sold more than 12 million editions worldwide, and there are seasonal variations of the game for occasions such as Halloween and Christmas.

The other night I heard on the BBC that a satire of the game called "Angry Brides" has become popular in India. The game takes aim (no pun intended) at the highly controversial, archaic dowry system which was actually outlawed in India 50 years ago, but it is still apparently practiced in some circles.

The dowry system calls for the bride to give gifts for both the groom and his entire family. Among the slingshot items in "Angry Brides" are broomsticks, stiletto high heels and frying pans.

I just recently started playing "Angry Birds" and yes, the game is quite addictive. It almost reminds me of when I played "Ms. Pac-Man" as a teenager some 25 years ago.

Quote of the Day/Week- Amy Winehouse

2012-01-20T12:45:00.000-08:00

We continue quoting famous people who died in 2011 with a quip from English soul/pop diva Amy Winehouse (1983-2007) who died at age 27; her last public concert performance was in Belgrade, Serbia, on June 18. She passed away on July 23.

Winehouse was known for her signature song "Rehab," which was a huge hit in 2007 as well "You Know I'm No Good" and "Stranger Than Me." Since much of her singing was encouraged by pop music of the '60s, Scottish singer Adele has said that Winehouse was a major influence for her.

Here is the quote from Winehouse:

"Girls talk to each other like men talk to each other. But girls have an eye for detail."

Quote of the Day/Week- Jackson Pollock

2012-01-18T21:44:00.001-08:00

Today, for our series on quotes from famous artists, we are quipping the great American abstract expressionist master Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) who died in a car accident at age 44. On our other blog, we are quoting Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988).

Both artists were subjects of acclaimed independent films. The movie "Basquiat" (1996), which features David Bowie playing Andy Warhol who was a mentor to him in real life, was directed by Julian Schnabel, an artist himself who was also a contemporary of Basquiat when the artist was evolving from a graffiti artist to a no-expressionist in New York in the early '80s.

"Pollock" (2000), was directed by Ed Harris who also played Jackson Pollock in the film. For the role, Harris gained 30 pounds during the late stages of filming to make himself look like Pollock when the artist became a full-fledged alcoholic.

The above image is of Pollock's painting "Gothic" (1944); here is his quote:

"I have fear of making changes, destroying the images, etc., because the painting has a life of its own."

Quote of the Day/Week- Anton Leeuwenhoek

2012-01-18T21:37:00.000-08:00

Though his name is just slightly less difficult to spell than that of acclaimed Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul ("Blissfully Your's), we are quoting the great Dutch biologist Anton Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) today as part of our month-long series of quotes from scientists and artists. Previously, on this blog, we quoted Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin for this series.

Here is the quote from Leeuwenhoek (yes, we got it right; it takes a few tries though!):

"A man has always to be busy with his thoughts if anything is to be accomplished."

My Choices for the Best 20 Films of 2011

2012-01-17T13:24:00.000-08:00

Here is the list without commentary:

1. The Tree of Life

2. Melancholia

3. The Descendants

4. Hugo

5. Project Nim (documentary)

6. Tabloid (doc.)

7. Submarine

8. Midnight in Paris

9. The Skin I Live In (Spain)

10. The Ides of March

11. Senna (doc.)

12. The Troll Hunter (Norway)

13. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011 version)

14. J. Edgar

15. Moneyball

16. "Bal/Honey" (Turkey)

17. Beginners

18. Drive

19. The Adventures of Tintin

20. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Silly Photo to Fill Space- VW Beetle

2012-01-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

We were hoping to go to the Volkswagen Beetle Show at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC, over the weekend, but we were a bit stunned that the entry fee was $15! And, as it is, we had left the camera, in a hotel room in Welch, West Virginia (Yes, we are saying this in jest).

But, we can leave you with this image of a 1968 Beetle. For political buffs, this was the year that Republican Richard Nixon beat Democratic senator Hubert Humphrey to win the presidential election and well, the rest really is history.

Spoecial Quote of the Day/Week- Martin Luther King, Jr.

2012-01-17T13:13:00.001-08:00

Since all the public libraries in Rock Hill, SC*, where I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Jon Huntsman** at the same Golden Corral where Fred Thompson*** spoke four years ago, were closed yesterday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we are quoting the great Civil Rights leader today instead:

"A man can't ride your bak unless it's beat."

*- Not really where I am at

**- For those of you in Karachi, Pakistan, and other places far away from American shores, the former Utah governor dropped out of the Republican presidential race over the weekend.

***- This part is true, Fred Thompson did indeed have a rally at the Golden Corral in Rock Hill, SC, but he still didn't win the South Carolina Republican Primary.

Quote of the Day/Week- Elizabeth Taylor

2012-01-12T10:29:00.001-08:00

This month we are quoting famous people who died in 2011, and we may very well continue that into next month. In February, we are also hoping to quote Oscar winners. Dame Elizabeth Taylor who died on March 23, 2011, at age 79, was a two-time Oscar winner. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress first for "BUtterfield 8" (1960) and then for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966).

In 1960, she beat out Shirley Maclaine who starred in Billy Wilder's Oscar-winning film "The Apartment." But, Maclaine would win her own Best Actress Oscar for "Terms of Endearment" (1983). In 1966, Taylor won over sisters Vannesa Redgrave ("Morgan!") and Lynn Redgrave, who died in 2010, ("Georgy Girl").

Taylor's fans may want to set their tivos as her film "Father's Little Dividend," a sequel to the original "Father of the Bride" airs on TCM at 2:30 a.m. on January 15th.

Here is her quote:

"You find out who your friends are when you're involved in a scandal."

SIDEBAR: The answer to our last Bonus Road Trip question was C....it was a deliberate joke on my part as the answers for the last three entries in that series were all C.

Quote of the Day/Week- Marcel Duchamp

2012-01-11T13:22:00.000-08:00

Today, for the very first time, we quote the great French surreal artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) who is best-known for his....hmmm, there is no nice way to say this, his urinal piece.....

Duchamp was also apparently an avid chess player, a sport which according to the NPR show "The World," the former Soviet Republic of Armenia is apparently very good at; here is his quote:

"Chess can be described as the movement of pieces eating one another."

We gather there is even a "Peanuts" version of chess where (you guessed it) Charlie Brown is the king and Lucy van Pelt is the queen.

SIDEBAR: Oh, I almost to mention that I am on way to the Golden Corral in Rock Hill, SC, where Fred Thompson once stumped* to formally endorse the one Republican candidate who I see fit to hold office; his name is Zippy the Pinhead**.

*-true story

**-underground comic book character that is the creation of Bill Griffith

Quote of the Day/Week- Charles Darwin

2012-01-11T13:13:00.000-08:00

Today, Google used the image of Danish bishop and scientist Nicolas Steno (1638-1686) on his 374th birthday as their 'google doodle." Steno was instrumental for many things, including discovering human salivary ducts, and there is a Steno Museum in Arhus, Denmark, which is dedicated to displaying findings in the arenas of science and medicine. But, alas, for our purposes, Steno really didn't leave behind a meaningful quip.

The same can not be said for English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) whose findings on the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador are taught in classroom and disputed in places of worship around the globe; hence 'the Darwin fish' that is displayed here.

With that, here is our quote from Darwin, who made these comments long before the 'evolution of video games,' including Donkey Kong and Angry Birds:

"A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the whole of life."

SIDEBAR: We love this tweet from Onion Politics, a subdivision of the satirical faux news publication "The Onion:" "Fiercely independent New Hampshire voters pick guy everybody thought would win." For those of you in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, that person is Mitt Romney.

The Last 10 Films I've Seen on the Big Screen

2012-01-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

When we faced complications getting a decent image of Albert Brooks, the comedic actor, who gives a stunning, chilling performance as a ruthless gangster in "Drive," we figured we'd go with a book cover for the Stieg Larsson novel "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," which is now in its second cinematic incarnation.

We are still amused that a Fox News commentator called "The Muppets" communist propaganda hence we developed the tag Kermit the Kommunist (for Kermit the Frog), which is seemingly very popular.

Here are the last ten films we've seen on the big screen:

1. "Drive" (dir. Nicolas Winding Refn) with Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan and Albert Brooks.

2. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (dir. David Fincher) with Daniel Craig

3. "My Week with Marilyn" (dir. Simon Curtis) with Michelle Williams

4. "Young Adult" (dir. Jason Reitman) with Charlize Theron

5. "The Descendants" (dir. Alexander Payne) with George Clooney

6. "The Adventures of Tintin" (dir. Steven Spielberg)

7. "The Skin I Live In" (Spain, dir. Pedro Almodovar) with Antonio Banderas

8. "Hugo" (dir. Martin Scorsese)

9. "Melancholia" (Denmark/Sweden, dir. Lars von Trier) with Kristen Dunst

10. "The Muppets" (dir. James Bobin)

Bonus Road Trip (10 of 10)_ LA to Athens (Georgia, not Greece)

2012-01-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

We will go ahead and tell you that the air mileage between Los Angeles and Athens, Greece, is 6,907 miles, suprisingly enough, Istanbul, Turkey, which isn't quite as south as the Greek capital is slightly closer to L.A. at 6,832 air miles.

But, the UCLA Bruins women's gymnastics team coming off a narrow, but impressive home win over the Utah Utes yesterday (196.075-196.025) will travel to Athens, Georgia, on March 2nd to face the Georgia Bulldogs, also known as the 'Gym Dawgs.'

UGA scored its own win on Friday night as they defeated the Denver Pioneers at home by a score of 196.525-193.700. The Gym Dawgs will next head to the University of Alabama to face the defending champions in the Crimson Tide. Alabama is also vying for a national titled in football tonight against LSU.

For the UCLA Bruins, Samantha Peszek paved the way by winning the all-around with a score of 39.45. The Bruins also have stand-out gymnasts in Vanessa Zamarripa, whose name we have previously spelled incorrectly (don't tell the Associated Press!; forgive the journalism humor) and Aisha Gerber.

Among the outstanding gymnasts for the Gym Dawgs are seniors Kat Ding and Gina Nuccio.

For our points of destination, we are choosing Garage Pizza on West Seventh Street in Los Angeles and Taquiero Del Sol (one of several locations) on Prince Avenue in Athens, Ga.

So just how far is this commute, in terms of driving time (we assume the Bruins team will fly into Georgia; we'd ask the Bruins coach ourselves, but we think she has more pressing matters to tend to); is the answer:

A) 32 hours and 30 minutes

B) 33 hours and 30 minutes

C) 34 hours and 30 minutes

D) 35 hours and 30 minutes

SIDEBAR: The answer to our last Bonus Road Trip was C. Incidentally, the Dartmouth Big Green's men's basketball team lost on the road at Harvard by a score of 63-47. But, Gabas Maldunas, from Lithuania, was selected as the Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the third time this year. We refered to the game in an earlier post. Maldunas scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the loss at Harvard.

Bonus Road Trip (9 of 10)_ Should-Be Ivy League Schools

2012-01-07T08:08:00.000-08:00

Today, we are looking at the destinations between two major conference schools which might just be better off in the Ivy League. Here in the United States, major conferences are expanding and dissolving to the point where West Virginia University, located in Morgantown, WVa, might be joining the Big-12 where they would meet teams from the likes of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. To put this in perspective, Istanbul, Turkey, where West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball Deniz Kilicli hails from, is probably closer to Paris, France.

The two schools were are choosing are Big Ten Conference team Northwestern University, located in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, and Southestern Conference member Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee.

Both schools made it bowl games, but both teams lost. On New Year's Eve, Northwestern fell to Texas A & M 33-22 at a bowl game in Houston, Texas. Similarly, the Vandy Commodores lost to the Cincinnati Bearcats by a 31-24 score at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn., on that same day.

For our two points of destination, we are choosing two coffeeshops: The Brothers K Coffee Shop in Evanston, Illinois, which might well elude to a certain famous Russian novel, and Ugly Mugs Cofeeshop in Nashville, which blogger Nate Baker is one of the best places to write in the city.

So, how far apart are these two zip codes?

Is the answer?:

A) 6 hours and 30 minutes

B) 7 hours and 30 mintes

C) 8 hours and 30 minutes

D) 9 hours and 30 minutes.

Of course, we are not including construction and accident delays.

SIDEBAR: The answer to yesterday's Bonus Road Quiz is C) six hours. Hans from Hamburg, Germany, is the winner of the Oak Ridge Greatest Hits on eight-track cassette!

And, for those of you in Riga, Latvia, who were not able to watch the Orange Bowl, which we mentioned in an earlier entry, West Virginia won that game handily over Clemson University by an amazing 70-34 score.

Bonus Road Trip (8 of 10)_ In the Ivy League

2012-01-06T06:32:00.001-08:00

Today, we ask you the blog reader how far apart two Ivy League towns are. They are Princeton, New Jersey, where (of course) Princeton University is, and Hanover, New Hampshire, the home of Dartmouth College, where Ron Paul might very well be trying to pump students up for the upcoming New Hampshire Republican Primary so he can surge past Newt Gingrich, or as we like to call him here (we are a center-left blog) Sigmund the Sea Monster (forgive the retro humor).

Until today, we were unaware of Dartmouth's nickname; they are the 'Big Green.' And, their men's basketball team will have a daunting task when they face nationally ranked Harvard on the road at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. As for Princeton, they can boast at least one NBA star and U.S. Senator from their alumni, as Bill Bradley, who was both, graduated from the school as a Rhodes scholar. Alas, he still lost the Democratic Party nomination to Al Gore in 2000, perhaps New Hampshire was to blame.

So, for this trip, our destination points are the Ivy Inn in Princeton, NJ, and Molly's Restaurant in Hanover, NH. Feel free to take a guess so you can win an 8-track tape of the Oak Ridge Boys' greatest hits.

Is the answer:

A) 4 hours even

B) 5 hours even

C) 6 hours even

D) 7 hours even

Quote of the Day/Week- Dr. Jack Kevorkian

2012-01-05T11:04:00.000-08:00

This month, on Thursdays (days may vary depending on schedule), we will posting quips from famous people who died in 2011. Don't worry: Osama bin Laden will not be one of them.

But, there will be some controversial figures, including today's subject, Dr. Jack Kevorkian (1928-2011) who died at age 83 on June 3, 2011, in Michigan.

Kevorkian served eight years of a 10-to-15 year jail sentence in Michigan for second degree murder. He was tried for assisting suicides four times. The assisted suicides happened between May 1994 and June 1997. These trials made Kevorkian an international celebrity.

Assisted suicide has also been highly debated in Switzerland, where it is allowed. But, this has lead to the 'suicide tourism' trend in which people with terminal illnesses come to Switzerland for assisted suicides or euthanasia. In 2008, 725 citizens from the United Kingdom came to Switzerland for this purposes.

Kevorkian was also an Armenian-American, and he was portrayed by Al Pacino in the HBO film biography "You Don't Know Jack." He lived and worked his whole adult life in his native Michigan.

Here is his quote: "Among doctors in general, I think more than half support what I am doing."

Quote of the Day/Week- M.C. Escher

2012-01-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

Today's quote from a famous artist is from the famous Dutch abstract master M.C. Escher (1898-1972) who became known for his mathematically inspired paintings, such as "Drawing Hands" (1948, pictured).

The painting shows a sheet of paper with two flat wrists and two hands facing each others.

Here is Escher's quote:

"I don't use drugs, my dreams are frightening enough."

Quote of the Day/Week- Albert Einstein

2012-01-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

This month, we are quoting famous scientists and artists. We begin with the German-born American Albert Einstein (1879-1955) who was known for his theory of relativity: e=mc2; we have no doubt that if he were alive today, he'd been an Angry Birds video game addict.

I saw an Albert Einstein, just like the one pictured here, for a mere five dollars as it was being sold by a Washington D.C. vendor, but I opted to get another tie instead though a part of regrets passing it up.

Einstein, who was Jewish and first came to the United States in 1921, formally left Germany as Adolf Hitler was emerging as a powerful, dangerous political force in 1933. He took up an academic position at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ, where he remained until his death.

I first heard this quote at a Unitarian Universalists service several weeks ago; it is regarding miracles:

"There are two ways to live: as if nothing is a miracle or as if everything is a miracle."

From the Record Collection- (4 of 8) "More Songs..." by Talking Heads

2012-01-03T17:10:00.001-08:00

It is a busy night for sports and politics here in the United States, as Virginia Tech and the University of Michigan, my late father's two alma maters are playing in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Meanwhile, Republicans are holding the Iowa Causes. NPR and "USA Today" have both projected that Mitt Romney has the leading going into tonight.

But, even at busy times like these, it feels like there are few things better than listening to old, vintage vinyl records. And, amongst the ones I have, few of them are played as often as "More Songs About Buildings and Food," the second studio album by Talking Heads which was released in 1978.

The album, which runs 41:32, includes the single "Take Me to the River," which is a cover of a version that rhythm and blues singer Al Green released in the early '70s. Other great songs on "More Songs..." include "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel" and the catchy tune "The Girls Just Want to be With the Girls."

"More Songs..." marked the first of three collaborations between Talking Heads and legendary producer Brian Eno, who has also worked with David Bowie and U2. The album got critical praise, but it didn't sell well upon initial release.

But, "Take Me to the River" made it to number 26 on the charts, and strangely enough it lead to Talking Heads appearing on "American Bandstand." Given that the band is an artsy New Wave punk band, one might sooner expect to see Toby Keith on "Austin City Limits" today.

The band consisted of lead singer David Byrne, who also designed the amazing art work on the album's cover which consists of many tiny Polaroid photos, drummer Chris Frantz, his wife and bass player Tina Weymouth and keyboardist/guitar player Jerry Harrison, who has since become a successful music producer since the band's split in 1991.

Worst Person of the Year for 2011_ Rick Perry

2012-01-02T10:53:00.001-08:00

Like most bloggers, I have probably committed over 2,000 copyright infringements, if one wants to be extreme and petty about such matters, but I do kind of wish I had enough loot to copyright the term: Execution Happy Evangelists.

The term not only applies to Rick Perry, the current governor of Texas and Republican presidential candidate, but also Gov. Bob McDonnell, the GOP governor of Virginia. Both have risen to prominence in state politics by exploiting their perceived righteous view of the world by proclaiming themselves to be good Christians. Yet, neither sees the contradiction, not only with their theological views, but also with their limited government ideals as executions are, in addition to being a human rights violation, quite expensive (estimates range, but it is widely believed that each execution costs $2 million).

So far Perry has overseen the executions of 234 Texas inmates. There are several that have been cited as wrongful executions, meaning the person sentenced to death may not have killed the person they were found guilty of murdering. The one that clearly stands out the most is the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham in 2004. Willingham was executed for killing three of his daughters by arson, but many fire experts both within the Lonestar State and from the outside found the initial investigations to be faulty.

The Willingham case was the subject of a "New Yorker" article by David Grann entitled "Trial by Fire," which was also the title of a PBS/Frontline documentary of the same name about the execution.

Perry has also been scrutinized for his shady political wranglings and dubious business deals from several magazines, including "The Atlantic," "The New Republic" and "Rolling Stone."

Though Matt Taibbi, one of America's most liberal and outspoken journalists, is not known for objectivity in his pieces for "Rolling Stone," he made a valid point when he said that Perry's highly controversial deal with Merck to have sixth grade girls in Texas get STD vaccines was a definitive breech with the Texans who elected and re-elected him (amazingly enough, Perry is now in his third term).

In a more sanguine piece by Alec MacGillis in "The New Republic," the author cited just how contradictory Perry is in his anti-government crusade and his own record in Austin. Among Perry's shady dealings was one in which he signed a deal for a nuclear landfill, and allowed damaging deregulation for col-fire power plants. In addition, Perry worked with UBS Bank to raise revenues from the deaths of retired Texas teachers.

Perry has also allied himself with radical evangelists in The New Apolistic Reformers who think abortion is murder and that the Democratic Party is possessed by Satan. He has also called social security an illegal Ponzi scheme.

And, at a Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Perry made a bold declaration that the death penalty was effectively the only way to reduce homicides in America.

So, for the second year in a row, we are choosing an Execution Happy Evangelist as our Worst Person of the Year.

Last year, our choice was current Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, who is an advocate for allowing guns on campus even though Virginia Tech has seen two horrific school shootings in recent years.

With the Iowa Caucuses happening tomorrow, we certainly hope Perry performs dismally so that we don't have to fear the possibility of another inept, immoral Texas politician in the White House.

Happy New Year from Asterix the Gaul

2012-01-01T22:04:00.001-08:00

Since my late father's country Turkey and one of my favorite countries in the world France are in a diplomatic brewhaha, I thought I'd start of the New Year with an entry dedicated to the French comic book heroes Asterix and Obelix here. Conversely, there will be a page dedicated to the Turkish shadow puppet characters Karagoz and Hacivat on our sister blog.

With the popularity of Steven Spielberg's animated film "The Adventures of Tintin," based on the beloved books by Belgian cartoonist Herge is bringing Tintin, who is perhaps still the world's most famous fictitious reporter_ well along with Clark Kent/Superman, to American shores, one can only hope that Asterix, who celebrated his 50th anniversary in 2011, will get his own well-deserved recognition in les etats unis soon.

As for the row between Paris and Ankara, it is perhaps the result of two right-leaning political figures in French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, both of whom also have strong personalities, making matters even more dire than they may have been otherwise. Turkey faced a similar exchange of heated words with another unyielding right-wing leader in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the Blue Marmara Flotilla Fiasco (as we refer to that incident which alas killed many innocent people) in 2009.

French parliamentarian Valerie Boyes, a political ally of Sarkozy's, has received death threats from Turkish nationalists according to various sources. Boyes was a key proponent of the bill, which has popularity amongst France's 500,000 people of Armenian heritage, including singer/actor Charles Aznavour, 87.

But, many including France's own foreign minister Alain Juppe fear the bill, which would involve a stiff $59,000 fine and one-year jail sentence for any person who does not classify the disputed tragic events between Turks and ethnic Armenians in rural Anatolia, especially in what is now eastern Turkey, in 1915 as a genocide.

Turkey has itself been criticized abroad for laws which do not allow individuals the freedom to classify those events as genocide and many prominent Turkish intellectuals including the controversial Turkish novelist Elif Shafak have faced court hearings as a result.

The Armenian bill was approved by the French Parliament on Dec. 21, and is awaiting Boyer's expected signature. Erdogan, for his part, has called the bill one that is based on 'racism, discrimination and xenophobia.' Erdogan later accused France of genocide in colonial Algeria.

Turkey's ambassador to France, Tahsin Burcuoglu, was also summoned back to Ankara. Turkey has also been angry at Sarkozy for being vocally opposed to Turkey's membership into the European Union though the seismic economic collapse in neighboring Greece, an EU member, has made domestic Turks less inclined to join the EU. The legislation also runs the likely risk of of economic exchanges between Turkey and France; Turkey is France's fifth largest trading partner.

Ironically, the late Turkish Armenian activist Hrant Dink, who was tragically assassinated by a far right Turkish nationalist in Istanbul in 2007, said he was equally opposed to suppression of free speech on both sides of the heated issue whether it be in Turkey or in Europe.

As for Asterix, which I read a child in Turkey, where the character remains very popular, in the late 1970s, he was created by writer Rene Goscinny (1926-1977) who was also responsible for the genesis of the French comic book cowboy Lucky Luke who was drawn by the late Belgian cartoonist Morris. Lucky Luke, who was called Red Kit in Turkey, was also a childhood favorite of mine, and in recent years, Lucky Luke has also been published in the United States.

Asterix was drawn by the illustrator Albert Uderzo, who is still alive at age 84. Asterix has been popular everywhere in the world, even in Canada, except for the United States and Japan. So far, 345 million copies of the 34 Asterix books have been sold worldwide.

The first book in the series was "Asterix the Gaul," published in 1961. Since Asterix was a small figure, a strong-looking sidekick was needed and in came Obelix, the very large, round man who carried a big rock. Asterix is also frequently followed by his pet Dogmatix.

My personal favorite Asterix book is "Asterix at the Banquet" (1965). Other great books in the series include "Asterix and the Big Fight" (1966), "Asterix at the Olympic Games" (1968) and "Asterix and the Laurel Wreath" (1972).

If it seems perhaps slightly inappropriate that I mix Asterix with an ugly matter which has become what I see as a "Rashomon nightmare" (in reference to Akira Kurosawa's film "Rashomon" where Japanese villagers each depict differing accounts of a rape crime), then it should be pointed that in France there has been a beef over the legacy of Asterix as the character has apparently been sold to a large media conglomerate in France.

With that said, Happy New Year to everyone, and thanks to those of you who have looked at this blog from countries as far apart as Slovenia and Indonesia.

SIDEBAR: The answer to our Bonus Road Trip question from last week is C) 12 hours, that is the distance between Clemson, SC, and Miami, Fla. And, the answer to our "Rabbit Ears Quiz" is A) Sept. 25, 1970. The other dates used as choices were when "The Partridge Family" first aired in various European countries, including Germany.

Ending the Year with Willy Shakespeare

2011-12-31T15:16:00.001-08:00

This month, we have been quoting the great English playwright William Shakespeare who penned a play called "All's Well that Ends Well," which was written in 1603 and published in 1623. The play will be performed at the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London on May 23, 2012.

Closer to home, the Playmakers Rep Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, will be performing both "Henry IV" and "Henry V" on a rotating basis from Jan. 28 until March 4th. That production will be co-directed by Jospeh Haj and Mike Donahue.

Here is our quote, and Happy New Year to all of you, whether you be in Philadelphia, London, Budapest, Athens, Istanbul, Tokyo, Sydney or Buenos Aires:

"My crown is called content, a crown that seldom a king enjoys."

Quote of the Day/Week- Stefania Fernandez

2011-12-30T13:13:00.001-08:00

And, we fully expect that this image of Stefania Fernandez, Miss Universe 2009, will boost out hits total for the day and week. Fernandez, 21, is one of many women from Venezeula who have won the coveted Miss Universe pageant, which we believe is one of Donald Trump's media entities.

Sadly, on Dec. 17, another former Miss Universe/Venezuela 2001 Eva Ekvall, died of breast cancer at age 28 in Houston.

Fernandez became the first woman crowned Miss Universe by a title-holder from her country as she recieved the crown from Dayana Mendoza, Miss Universe/Venezuela 2008.

Though she is perhaps not as politically active as many American celebrities like pop-star "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson who endorsed the libertarian-leaning Republican candidate Ron Paul today, it is widely believed that Fernandez opposes the policies of eccentric, far-left president Hugo Chavez.

Fernandes is actually of Ukrainian heritage.

Here is her quote:

"We've already reached the same level as men."

Quote of the Day/Week- Alberto Fujimori

2011-12-30T13:04:00.000-08:00

Today, we are continuing our quotes from famous Latin Americans with the former criminally corrupt president of Peru; Alberto Fujimori (b. 1938) is of Japanese descent and feld to Japan though he was extradicted back to Peru to face criminal human rights violations.]

The right-wing leader is credited with creating fujimorism, an anti-terrorist free-market policy. Fujimori is also the subject of the excellent documentary film "The Fall of Fujimori," which has the following tagline: "He risked everything to win Peru's war on terror, but in doing so he became an international fugitive, wanted for corruption, kidnapping, and murder."

His daughter Keiko Fujimori (b. 1975) will be quoted in our sister blog; she ran for president with her father in a Peruvian jail this year. In 2009, the elder Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in jail for human rights violations.

One of the prime challenges that he faced while in office was fighting the Shinning Path terrorist/separatist movement in the mountains of Peru. In 1992, when Fujimori was president, Abimael Guzman (b. 1934) the professor of philosophy who founded the Shinning Path movement was sentenced to life in prison.

Here is the quote from Alberto Fujimori: "Poverty doesn't imply neccesarrily violence."

The Rabbit Ear Test_ (5 out of 12) "The Partridge Family"

2011-12-27T18:50:00.001-08:00

Today, we give out a new quiz on a tv show from our childhood years in the 1970s, and today the subject is "The Partridge Family." Unlike many tv shows, the sitcom about five children and their mother who sing together in a band, also featured many recordings with The Partridge Family name.

To my knowledge, I only saw the show one time as a kid and that was on a rerun which aired on a Hartford, Conn., tv channel (perhaps WFSB) in 1980 when my parents were visiting friends in the Nutmeg State.

Earlier this year, the show made news as David Cassidy, the teen heartthrob from the show, sued the producers of the show for bank royalties, some 37 years since the show, which ran for 96 episodes, originally aired.

Also this year, writer Allison Pearson wrote a book called "I Think I Love," in reference to a hit song from The Partridge Family, about her teenage crush on David Cassidy, and how it made her dream about America while watching the show on tv in Wales.

Amazingly enough, while researching this piece, we found out that '80s pop icon Rick Springfield was set to replace a burnt out Cassidy, but the show wasn't renewed for another season.

Other interesting facts about the show are that "The Partridge Family" was based on a real-life musical family called the Cowgills. The show's dog Simone only showed up in the program's first season.

Susan Dey, another member of the cast who would later star in "L.A. Law" had to live with a guardian on the set until she turned 18. The cast also included Shirley Jones and Danny Bonaduce. The show was also for its tour bus!

So, we are going to ask: "What is the original airdate of 'The Partridge Family?' (I guess I should inform our friends in Peru, thanks for checking us out today, that the show did air in Europe, but it is an American show, and we are going with the American broadcast here)

Is the answer:

A) Sept. 25, 1970

B) May 28, 1972

C) March 1, 1973

D) Jan. 17, 1974

For more information on The Partridge Family, one can check out the web sites partridgefamilypartybus.com or partridgefamilytemple.com

Casualties of Modern Technology (5 of 12)_View-Masters

2011-12-25T14:24:00.000-08:00

Today, we are continue to feature two items which are still on the market, at least here in the United States, but it is a safe assumption that both View-Masters, which we are featuring here, and board games, such as Monopoly, are used less often than they were 30-35 years ago.

When I was a child in the 1970s, View-Masters were extremely popular, and there were 3-D slides for many popular tv shows and movies, such as "The Lone Ranger."

My mom, who is an antiques dealer, has also sold earlier versions of the View-Master that were sold at tourist destinations, including Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon. This form of the View-Master was introduced at the 1939 World's Fair in New York, according to Wikipedia.

In 1966, the products were merchandised with popular tv shows, including "Star Trek" and "Rowan and Martin's Laugh In."

Though they are found less often in the open market, Fisher Price still produces View-Masters, and there are slides with images from popular children's films, such as "Toy Story 3."

The used View-Masters we grew up with are available through sites like e-bay, and from what I noticed, they typically seem to sell for about $10 each.

Happy Holidays from Kermit the Frog

2011-12-24T17:59:00.001-08:00

One of our favorite 'right wing media' moments this years was when Fox News host Eric Boiling actually proclaimed that the new children's musical/fantasy film "Muppets" was 'communist' liberal propaganda because it showed an oil tycoon in a negative light. His co-host Andrea Tantaras added that: "I just wish liberals would leave the kids alone."

So, we thought it would be nifty to wish everyone a Happy Holidays/Happy Hannukah/Merry Christmas from Kermit the Kommunist* Frog.

Aside from any Bolshevik leanings, Kermit is also known for being the only Muppet to appear on both "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show**." We learned while researching this that Kermit actually no longer appears on "Sesame Street" as of 2001, though he made an appearance in September 2009 to celebrate the show's 40th anniversary.

As everyone in the world, including Uzbekistan probably knows, Kermit was the central character in "The Muppet Show," which aired in the 1970s; his romantic interest was Miss Piggy.

Kermit, who is known as 'kurbagacik'/little frog in Turkey, was voiced by his creator Jim Henson up until Henson's untimely death in 1990.

I suppose since there are lots of bears in Russia, Fozzie the Bear would probably be the most subversive member of the Muppet family, if we were right-wing kooks that is. Interestingly enough, the Soviet Union formally ceased to exist on Dec. 25th, 1991, exactly 20 years ago.

*-kommunist is the Turkish word for communist; it seems to go better with Kermit

**- Alas, we spelled "The Muppet Show" incorrectly on our tags.

Happy Festivus for the Rest of Us

2011-12-23T07:58:00.000-08:00

Folks in Turkey, Bulgaria and Latvia may have no idea what we are talking about, but today is Festivus Day in the United States. Today also happens to be HumanLight Day, the human secularist equivalent to Christmas. Though the two occasions are similar, our researchers could not verify or deny that they are one in the same!

Festivus is described on Wikipedia as: 'a way to celebrate the holiday season without pressures or commercialism.' Festivus originates from an episode of "Seinfeld" entitled "The Strike," which aired on Dec. 18, 1997, a few months before the cast decided to call it quits so the long-running, popular sitcom could go out on a high note.

Ironically, "Seinfeld" was once pummeled by "Home Improvement" in the ratings, though now most people agree that "Seinfeld" was far and away the better show.

Festivus includes such ceremonies as gathering around an aluminum pole called 'The Festivus Pole' and airing out grievances. The catch phrase for the holiday/celebration is "Festivus for the rest of us." There are now even Festivus yarmalukes.

In 2007, a Wisconsin man actually requested permission to put up a Festivus Pole next to a nativity scene at Green Bay City Hall as a means to protest the inclusion of religion and state.

Today, there will be a Festivus celebration at The Shadowbox Cinema in Roanoke, Va., my hometown, at 8:00 p.m.

SIDEBAR ONE: While reading the latest issue of "The New Republic," we came across an ad for a book entitled "Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays" by Joel Waldfogel, an economist at the Pennsylvania University.

The 2009 which is published by Princeton Press promotes itself as 'the book that Santa doesn't want you to read.' Among the claims that Waldfogel presents (we have not read the book ourselves) is that many gifts, particularly ones like rooster sweaters or Mister Potato Heads, are gifts we really don't need or want.

Waldfogel also argues that approximately $85 billion of waste occurs due to holiday shopping. He also stated that the Christmas shopping process disrupts regular shopping patterns and we are essentially forced to shoot in the dark to make relatives happy.

In a "Wall Street Journal" interview, the author admitted that his own wife was initially put off by his findings.

SIDEBAR TWO: Whether one agrees with Joel Waldfogel or not, one can agree with the sentiment that there is a dark side to Christmas shopping when it as it most extreme level. Today, "The Charlotte Observer" reported that three shopping malls in the Charlotte, NC- metro area had to be closed because fighting had broken out between customers who wanted the new Air Jordan XI Concord basketball shoes, that retail for around $180 a pair.

From the Album Collection (3 of 8)_ David Bowie's "Young Americans"

2011-12-22T13:15:00.001-08:00

Since David Bowie and Queen collaborated on the 1981 single "Under Pressure," which was astoningly not a big hit (only reached #29 on the Billboard charts), we though we'd write up entries for their records for this series.

I only have two vinyl records from each artist, but I play both "Young Americans"
(1975) and "Let's Dance" (1983) from David Bowie very often.

"Young Americans" features a title track of the same name, which refers to the political suppression of African-Americans, and features a jab at Richard Nixon (refered to as 'President Nixon' in the song) who resigned from the Oval Office just as the record was being put together.

The album was produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, who had worked on several previous Bowie records. It was recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia and Electric Lady Studios in New York.

"Young Americans" also features Bowie's smash hit number one single "Fame," which features background vocals from John Lennon. Interestingly enough, Lennon also sang background vocals on Bowie's cover of "Across the Universe," which is another track on "Young Americans." That song was originally recorded by The Beatles.

Yet Another Shakespeare Quote_ (Entry 4 of 5)

2011-12-22T11:37:00.001-08:00

Today, we post our fourth of five quips from the great William Shakespeare, whom we believe to be dead.

In all seriousness, the Shakespare Theatre in Washington, D.C., is currently staging the Bard's beloved comedy "Much Ado About Nothing," as directed by Ethan McSweeny, until Jan. 7th.

Here is the quote:

"Be great in act, as you have been in thought."

SIDEBAR: Happy Birthday, mom!

Bonus Road Trip (7 of 10) Clemson, SC, to the Orange Bowl

2011-12-21T18:18:00.001-08:00

On Jan. 4, 2012, the Clemson Tigers, who for some reason had the Virginia Tech Hokies' number this season in the Atlantic Coast Conference (the Tigers were the only team to beat the Hokies; they did it twice) will go down to Miami, Fla., for the Orange Bowl.

The opposing team will be the West Virginia Mountaineers, a former rival of the Hokies, representing the Big East Conference.

The trip from the West Virginia University campus to Miami is an extensive 17 hours, 45 minute-drive, but the commute is slightly less painful from Clemson, SC.

To see the mileage between the two destinations, we chose the Friends Cafe, a hookah gathering place, in Clemson, and the Rice House of Kabob, a Middle Eastern eatery in Miami.

So, how long is the drive between Clemson, SC, and Miami, Fla?; is the answer:

A) 10 hours

B) 11 hours

C) 12 hours

D) 13 hours

E) 14 hours

SIDEBAR ONE: The NPR radio show "Way with Words" recently had a segment on very, very long titles, and we saw that this book was recently promoted on Book TV (
C-SPAN 2): "Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich Off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism That Would Send the Rest of Us to Prison" by Peter Schweizer.

SIDEBAR TWO: Stephen King fans who have either read "Tommyknockers" or seen the TV moive version where a man gets killed by flying Coke cans from a vending machine will be happy to know that according to "Wired" magazine, the actual odds of dying from a vending machine accident are about 1 in 112 million.

Quote of the Day/Week- Pablo Escobar

2011-12-21T07:31:00.001-08:00

We continue our series of quotes from famous Latin Americans, with a quip from the drug lord Pablo Escobar (1949-1993) who was gunned down by authorities in his native Colombia at age 44. We are pretty certain that Escobar is the most notorious person we've ever quoted here, but we are not 100-percent certain of that.

Escobar made a bundle selling cocaine (yes, the Coke can is a joke). He was also heavily involved in the Colombian soccer scene, and in 1986, he actually entered domestic politics?!

The kingpin extraordinaire was also known for assasinations, bombings and political corruption. Amazingly enough, his mansion in Medellin is now a museum and a top tourist destination (No, we are not making this up!).

Here is his quote, which definitely seems ironic now:

"I prefer to be in the grave in Colombia than in a jail cell in the United States."

Quote of the Day/Week- Augusto Pinochet

2011-12-20T09:44:00.001-08:00

We must profess that since we have quoted both Che Guevarra and Fidel Castro this month, we are fearful that Bill O'Reilly will make the subject of scorn and label us as a far-left blog.

So, in order to make things 'fair and balanced,' today we are featuring a quip from the notorious Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (1915-2006), who suppressed and killed many of his own people.

There is a bit of personal connection here as my late uncle Ilhan Gokbudak was actually a Turkish diplomat in Santiago during Pinochet's reign. When I asked Ilhan Amca (amca is the Turkish word for uncle) what the man was like; he said something to the effect of: "Well, he was nice to me."

Here is the quote from Pinochet, who was, by the way, a far-right figure if there ever was one:

"I'm not a dictator. It's just that I have a grumpy face."

SIDEBAR: Today, the world is 'mourning' the loss of another brutal dictator as Kim Jung Il, who was made famous on "South Park" here in the United States, is no longer with us.

My favorite Kim Jung Il story is of how he kidnapped South Korean film director Sang-ok Shin, and forced her to make "Pulgasari" (1985), a Godzilla rip-off that was not shown outside the Korean pennisula until a 1998 screeening in Japan. Today, it is a Youtube sensation.

"Pulgasari" was also shown as part of the "Axis of Evil Film Festival" at Duke University in 2003; the festival, which was currated by Iranian ex-pat Negar Mottahedeh, did actually get targeted by Fox News for being 'liberal academic propaganda.' The festival also included films from Cuba, Libya and Syria.

The term 'axis of evil' is believed to have come from former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum, who has ironically become a voice and ration and reason within the Republican Party. I guess this means he is not endorsing Michele Bachmann.

Silly Picture to Fill Space- Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

2011-12-20T09:34:00.000-08:00

First of all greetings to our blog visitors from Norway and Indonesia, we are glad you have found nothing better to do than check out our blog today; forgive the mean-spirited "South Park" sense of humor which has become the norm here in America today.

We looked all over the Internet for both lavish and kitschy Christmas trees, and we chose to go with a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree instead.

There is a place called the Rifton Farm and Nursery in Floyd County, Virginia, which supposedly has the real thing, for those of you who live in the Roanoke Valley or Southwest Virginia, or for those of you who want drive thousands of miles looking for the perfect Christmas tree.

As for the "Charlie Brown Christmas Special," the show originally aired on CBS on Dec. 9, 1965, and a snowball fight scene was editted from the show. But, dvd editions of the show now show the snowball fight in its entirety, well from what we gather!

Quote of the Day/Week- Fidel Castro

2011-12-18T18:18:00.000-08:00

Because of the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and many older Cuban-Americans' desire to rid the world of him, many Cuban-Americans (yes, there are exceptions) lean right, but their vote will not matter in Sioux City, Iowa. And, perhaps, with the latest field of Republicans, which includes the ardent right-winger Newt Gingrinch, many Cuban-Americans might just go with President Barack Obama next year. Well, we can hope.

For our friends in Uzbekistan, it should be pointed out that most Cuban-Americans live around Miami, Florida.

In no way are we endorsing Fidel Castro or his view of the world, but he has been known to give great quotes:

"Men do not shape destiny; destiny produces the man for the hour."

IN THE WHOOPS DEPT- this was meant for the other blog; oh well.

Congrats to UCLA on Team's Women's Volleyball Championship

2011-12-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

We were personally rooting for the Florida State Seminoles amongst the four women's college volleyball teams that made it to the semi-finals (apparently, the term Final Four can only be officially used for college basketball) in San Antonio because the team has two Turkish players in stand-out Duygu Duzceler and Fatma Yildirim.

But, the Seminoles were defeated in straight sets by a very talented UCLA Bruins team that went on to win a thrilling match over the University of Illinois by a score of 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 26-24, 25-16) last night (Saturday).

The Illini, in spite of their loss in the title game, had a banner year which included a semi-final victory over UCLA's main rival, the USC Trojans, in a five-set nail-biter that finished with a 63-second back and forth between the two teams.

In last night's game, the Bruins were led by Rachael Kidder, a 6-3 junior who was also named NCAA Tournament MVP, who had 20 kills and eight digs. Her UCLA teammate Lauren Van Orden added 17 digs, and freshman Zoe Nightingale had 11 blocks and eight kills.

For the Illini, Michelle Bartsch had 22 kills, and Colleen Ward added 17 kills as well.

The Bruins, who were a powerhouse in women's volleyball, had not won a title in the sport since 1991. UCLA has now won four NCAA titles in the sport, and 108 titles in collegiate athletics, with a significant number of titles in men's basketball, women's softball and women's gymnastics.

Coach Michael Sealy of the Bruins, who was also named NCAA Coach of the Year, is also the first coach to win a title as coach and as a player, since he was on the 1993 men's volleyball team at UCLA which won a championship as well.

Yet Another Weekly Quote from William Shakespeare

2011-12-18T17:52:00.001-08:00

During the month of December, we are quoting William Shakespeare, and since we are literary historians we are not getting into the 'did he write his plays or not' debate.

Here is our latest quip from the Bard:

"As he was valiant, I honour him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him."

Quote of the Day/Week_ Reinaldo Arenas

2011-12-18T17:47:00.000-08:00

We are continuing our quotes from Latin Americans with a quip from the Cuban novelist and poet Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990) who left his island nation in part because of the country's political suppression of homosexuals, such as himself.

Arenas became the subject of the 2000 film "Before the Night Falls" featuring Spanish actor Javier Bardem in the starring role in a film that also included Johnny Depp and Sean Penn. The feature was filmed in Mexico instead of Cuba.

Here is the quote from Arenas:

"I have always considered it despicable to grovel your life as it were a favor. If you can not live the way you want, there is no point in living."

Quote of the Day/Week- Pele

2011-12-18T17:41:00.001-08:00

Since we have been completely obsessed with soccer later (auggh! I forgot to check the scores in the Dutch League, but we think PSV Eindhoven won), and we are focusing on Latin America), I thought it would good to quip Pele for a second time.

The first time we quoted him was on one of these two blogs during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. For those of you from the planet Neptune, Pele is from Brazil, and here is his quote:

"A penalty is a cowardly way to score."

SIDEBAR: For those who were wondering what the answer is to our "Rabbit Ears Quiz" from earlier in the week regarding the cartoon version of "Star Trek," it is A) 57 episodes. That is the differential between the number of episodes in the original show and the cartoon, which ran for 22 episodes from 1973-74.

Things We Learned on Google Today- Maccabi Tel Aviv Plays in Large Stadium

2011-12-14T21:20:00.000-08:00

Today, we conclude our series of looks at soccer teams from around the globe with a profile of the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv, which plays in Bloomfield Stadium which can house 14,700 fans.

Maccabi Tel Aviv has won 18 domestic championships, 22 national cups and two Asian Championship Cups. But, even though Israel is geographically in Asia, they now compete in the UEFA, the European Soccer Federation, as do teams from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

Today, Maccabi Tel Aviv traveled to Ukraine to face Dynamo Kiev and they came away with a 3-3 tie, but the team was already eliminated from Group E, which was won by the Istanbul soccer power Besiktas which defeated the English team Stoke City 3-1 today.

For Maccabi Tel Aviv, goals came from Omer Vereda (49th minute), Eliran Atar (62nd minute) and Moanes Dabour (75th minute), who is just 19.

Dabour is also one of several Israeli Premiere League teams with soccer players of Arab heritage, a list which also includes Ali Ottman.

The team's main rivals are Hapoel Tel Aviv, Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Haifa, which also played today in a 3-0 loss to German soccer team Schalke 04, which also won Group J. The Romanian team Steau Bucharest beat the Cypriot team AEK Larnaca 4-1 to ensure the other slot in the next round of the UEFA League.

There are 16 Israeli teams in the domestic premiere league where Maccabi Tel Aviv is struggling in eighth place. The team lost to Hapoel Haifa 2-0 on Dec. 4th and they tied Maccabi Netanya 1-1 on Dec. 12.

Virtual Postcard from Washington DC- Washington Monument

2011-12-14T21:04:00.000-08:00

We have sent Virtual Postcards out from both South Carolina and Kentucky, either when we were in or shortly after we had left those two states. Today, we will send you a Virtual Postcard from the '51st State," which is our nation's capital, Washington, DC, a city that conservatives love because of pure nationalism, and liberals love because of vegeterarian Ethiopian restaurants. Hey, it's fun to make fun of everyone, sometimes, though I personally think Michael Moore is considerably less insane than Pat Robertson.

Today, we thought we'd make this fun and snappy by doing a DC By the Numbers piece.

Here we go (other DC by the numbers will be appearing on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time"):

6,228_ Number of homeless people in Washington, DC, according to 2009 statistics.

535_ Members of Congress

435_ Members of House of Representatives (not the same thing)

242_ Republican members in the House

192_ Democratic members in the House

40_Number of points that Georgetown University beat the New Jersey Institute of Technology by a few weeks ago; the final score was 84-44

32_ Members in the cast of the Ford's Theatre production of "A Christmas Carol," including veteran actor Edward Gero who returns as Scrooge.

31_ Number of protestors arrested during Occupy D.C. on Dec. 6th.

27_ Number of local newspapers (including college papers and weeklies) in Washington, DC.

4- Number of MLS Cups won by D.C. United, that's a soccer team, for my fellow Americans (maybe, they'll get the joke in Slovenia, maybe not!).

The Rabbit Ears Quiz (4 of 12)_ Star Trek the Cartoon

2011-12-14T20:52:00.000-08:00

Tonight's entry in the Rabbit Ears Quiz series takes us back to September 8, 1973, when I was three years old. It was on this 'stardate' that the cartoon version of "Star Trek" debuted.

It would go on to last for 22 episodes, which were rerun frequently; the last original episode first aired on Oct. 12, 1974.

The cartoon edition retained the voices of virtually all cast members, including William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock) and Sulu (George Takei).
The lone exception was that of Walter Koening, now 75, who played Pavel Chekov. But, the producers of the show made it up to Koening by having write the show's seventh episode "The Infinite Vulcan."

According to Wikipedia, one of the key advantages of the animated version was that larger aliens were able to be depicted. One of the show's most popular episodes was "The Magicks of Megas-tu" (the show's eighth episode) involving a devil-like villain named Lucien.

The show was produced by Filmation which later produced the cartoon series "The New Adventures of Flash Gordon" (1979-81).

So, for our trivia question, we are going to ask what is the mathematical difference between the number of episodes of the original "Star Trek" and its animated version.

Is the answer?:

A) 57

B) 55

C) 53

D) 50

E) 48

Casualties of Modern Technology_ Polaroid 600s (4 of 12)

2011-12-09T08:13:00.001-08:00

Amazingly enough, we actually learn things while researhing entries that we were completely unaware of. We had presumed that Polaroid cameras were completely off the shelves, as we say here in America, but there are actually at least two new Polaroid cameras: the Polaroid 300, which is more economical, and the Polaroid Z340, which is more cool.

But, it still seems like a safe assumption that the Polaroid 600s, the ones that most of are familiar with (pictured) have gone the way of the dinosaurs (well, except for Barney).

According to Wikipedia, the first Polaroid instant cameras (the model 103s), which were quite bulky, were developed by American scientist Edwin Land (1909-1991).

Polaroid, a camera that both Andy Warhol and David Byrne* used in their art, actually discontinued making instant cameras altogether in 2008, but in October 2009, they were reintroduced in their current forms.

The Polaroid Z360 goes for circa $300, while Polaroid 300s go for about $70. Used Polaroid 300s can still be found on e-bay or amazon.com; prices vary.

*- The lead singer of Talking Heads, a band which has broken up, is also known for his art work and photography; he even directed a film!_ ("True Stories").

SIDEBAR ONE: While we intend for this blog to be an escape and refuge from everyday insanity, we did want to send our thoughts and condolences to the family of Deriek Crouse, the Virginia Tech campus police officer who was killed yesterday in Blacksburg, Va. So far, no motives for the homicide have been determined or reported to the media. The likely assailant was also killed or found dead on campus.

"The Collegiate Times," the student-run newspaper for Virginia Tech, has an article about the exam delays. Exams that were originally scheduled for today will now be made up on Saturday, and Monday exams will go on as scheduled. This has caused major inconveiences for some students. The source quoted a student from Iceland who said she had plane reservations to fly back home on Saturday, and she was working with her instructor to take the exam before her flight.

SIDEBAR TWO: Last week, we asked: "What do William Shakespeare, Che Guevara and Jesus Christ have in common?" Our answer at the time was they each had bobblehead dolls in their image. That is actually correct, but there is another thing these three seemingly radically different individuals have in common.

Yes, they all have active Twitter accounts?! For some reason, pretending to be a person who is no longer alive is trendy both on Facebook and on Twitter.

The man pretending to be Che Guevara (well, there are actually several others on Twitter) is a man in Turkey, which now means we can all jokingly say: "Che Guevara Turkce konustugunu hic bilmiyordum," which translates to 'I didn't know Che spoke Turkish,' which sounds much funnier in Turkish.

All three have considerably more followers on Twitter than the average person or entity. Of course, as one might expect, Jesus leads the pack with an astonishing 379,976 followers, that is as of yesterday. William Shakespeare has 7,582, and the Turkish Che Guevara has 2,236 people digging his tweets.

UEFA Madness: Those Darn Ruskies

2011-12-08T17:50:00.000-08:00

Since I'm a Turkish-American, I was hoping that Black Sea power Trabzonspor, the lone Turkish team in the UEFA Champions League, would pull through as they were expected to. But, CSKA Moscow went to Milan, Italy, and pulled a stunning 2-1 upset over Group B leader Inter Milan. This eliminated not only Trabzonspor, but the French team Lille. Trabzonspor and Lille played to a 0-0 tie yesterday.

Hence, we are posting an image of Misha the Bear from the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and in what is simply a ploy to arbitrarily get more hits on this blog, we are also featuring the famed 1993 "Sports Illustrated" switsuit issue with the Swedish supermodel Vendela, who is now 43 and reportedly newly single.

The goals for CSKA Moscow were scored by Seydou Doumbia, an Ivory Coast national, in the 50th minute of play, and Valli Berztutzki in the 86th minute. The Argentinian player Esteban Cambiasso score for Inter Milan in the 51st minute.

In Group C, there were some stunning developments as well as traditional English powerhouse and reigning UEFA runner-up Manchester United failed to qualify for the round of 16 as they fell to the Swiss team FC Basel 2-1. The Swiss side's goals came from Marco Streller (9th min.) and Fabian Frei (84th min.), both Swiss nationals while the lone Manchester United goal came from 19-year-old wunderkid Alex Jones late in the game.

FC Basel is also the team with Pak Kwang Ryong, the lone North Korean player in the UEFA Champions League and the first ever North Korean player to play in the tournament. He made his debut in a match at Manchester United on Sept. 14th.

The other team to advance from Group C was Benefica (Portugal) as they beat Otelul Galati (Romania) 1-0 on the road. Oscar Cardoza scored for the winning side a mere seven minutes into match play.

Here is a complete list of the scores from Wednesday's UEFA action, rundowns on the other four games will be on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time:"

*- Teams which advanced

y- Teams which won their groups

Group A

Napoli (Italy) 2 Villareal (Spain) 0

Manchester City 2 *y Bayern Munich 0

Group B

*CSKA Moscow 2 *y Inter Milan 1

Trabzonspor 0 Lille 0, tie

Group C

*y Benefica 1 Otelul Galati 0

* FC Basel 2 Manchester United 1

Group D

*y Real Madrid 3 Ajax Amsterdam 0

* Lyon (France) 7 Dinamo Zagred (Croatia) 1

SIDEBAR: There was also a major domestic game in Turkish soccer yesterday as two of the three main Istanbul rivals Galatasaray and Fenerbahce met (the third Istanbul power team is Besiktash), and it was Galatasaray which prevailed 3-1. The goals for the winning yellow and reds came from Emmanuel Eboue, yet another Ivory Coast player who is shinning in European soccer, John Elmanders, a Swedish national and Felipe Melo of Brazil. It was another Brazilian national Alex de Souza, who is also the Fenerbahce captain, who scored the lone goal for the yellow and blues.

Quote from Shakespeare: Keeping It Short

2011-12-08T17:40:00.001-08:00

Alas, we tried to find a real stage scene from "Romeo and Juliet," but we had to settle for this image of a very young Claire Danes playing the ill-fated Juliet on film (whatever happened to her co-star; yes that is a joke!).

The Folger Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC, will be performing another William Shakespeare classic "The Taming of the Shrew" starting on May. 7, 2012.

Here is the quote:

"Brevity is the soul of wit."

Wow, we were able to keep this one short!

SIDEBAR: Our thoughts go out to the Virginia Tech campus and community in the wake of a fatal shooting of a campus police officer earlier today. For more updates on the school where I once hosted a Turkish music show from WUVT-FM, I suggest another student-run media, "The Collegiate Times," which is Virginia Tech's newspaper (www.collegiatetimes.com). This is obviously a chilling reminder of many fairly recent campus tragedies at Virginia, including the April 2007 mass shooting.

Also, we want to send our kudos to the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., which decided to screen "Anonymous" tonight in spite of the tragedy. Of course, I should point out, that I may very well disagree with the point that someone besides Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare, which is the thesis of the film "Anonymous." Starting tomorrow, the Lyric will screen the acclaimed film "Narrow Margin."

Quote of the Week/Day- Frida Kahlo

2011-12-07T10:58:00.000-08:00

We continue our month-long series of quips from famous Latin Americans with a quote from the legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), who died a mere week after her 47th birthday, but she had been ill for a very long time before that.

When I was in Antigua, Guatemala, back in 2005, I noticed there was a trendy place called Frida's, which had like a two-hour wait. I've gathered from other people who have visited Guatemala that essentially it is easier to get a bar stool at 419 West, a popular gathering place in my hometown of Roanoke, Va., during happy hour on Fridays.

Here is the quote from Frida:

"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly."

SIDEBAR: It's that time of the year again. Actually, I was not thinking about Christmas, but rather that the popular funky Chapel Hill, NC-based band Southern Culture on the Skids will be performing their annual hometown charity show on Saturday night at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro (a suburb of Chapel Hill); the band also plays on Friday night at Ziggy's in Winston-Salem, NC.

Quote of the Week/Day- Che Guevara

2011-12-06T17:11:00.000-08:00

For the record: "No, I'm not a socialist, but I would be one if I lived in Provo, Utah."

Nevertheless, the Argentinian radical revolutionary figure Che Guevara (1928-1967) who was executed in Bolivia at age 38, has been good for massive hit totals on our two blogs. And, personally, I'd love to have this puppet for Christmas, if not to see the shocked look on a conservative friend's face.

By the way, we are dedicating to one Paul Doss of Roanoke, Va., who wrote in a letter-to-editor to "The Roanoke Times" in which he defended folks like Donald Trump and Uncle Scrooge. He added that 'anyone who wants socialism should move to Europe.' Of course, my response to that is that if Newt Gingrich becomes president, many of us may actually opt for Cuba.

And, while researching this piece, we found that many actors have played Che Guevara on film, including Antonio Banderas (in "Evita," 1996), Benicio Del Toro, Gael Garcia Bernali and most astonishingly Omar Sharif (?!). Yes, the Egyptian actor who is still alive played the title role in "Che!" (the dubious 1969 version, not the one which got a Criterion Edition release). Of course, in this same version of Che, the late Jack Palance (1919-2006) played Fidel Castro.

So, irregradless if your political legions are with Ron Paul or Noam Chomsky, here is the quote from Che:

"In a revolution one wins or dies, if it is a real one."

This our first in a month-long series of quotes from famous Latin Americans.

SIDEBAR ONE: The road trip between the two Charleston takes C) 8 hours, 30 minutes (see Saturday's entry).

SIDEBAR TWO: Didier Drogba, the Ivory Coast national, who is the main star for English soccer power Chelsea, scored two goals in UEFA Champions play for a 3-0 victory over Spanish team Valencia. This helped Chelsea win Group E.

Here is a partial rundown of the eight games played today in Europe; the stars indicate the teams that advance:

Shankhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) 2 *APOEL (Cyprus) 0

Porto (Portugal) 0 *Zenit (Russia) 0, tie

*Barcelona 4 BATE (Bulgaria) 0

*AC Milan 2, Plzen (Czech Rep.) 2, tie

SIDEBAR THREE: Last night, my fellow Turkish-American progressive Cenk Uygur made an impressive debut with Current TV on his show "The Young Turks" as he took great digs at Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann. But, my favorite segment was when he uncovered footage from Fox News of some right-wing nut pundit saying that the new Muppets movie "The Muppets" is encouraging children to become communists. And, the reason for this is because the film suggests big oil companies don't have our best interests at heart; uh huh! Tonight, Uygur welcomes Al Gore as his guest.

Sports Desk- Istanbul Powerhouses Have Solid Weekend in Soccer

2011-12-05T17:06:00.000-08:00

Back in the '70s and '80s, "Monday Night Football" was a regular American sports spectacular. It seems that Europeans have taken their own liking to "Monday Night Futbol" as major games were played today in Turkey, England, Spain and Italy_ and those are just the ones we are aware of.

In Turkey, it was a great weekend for the three traditional powerhouses. Today (Monday), one of those three titans Besiktas scored a 2-1 win over Orduspor, a team from Ordu in the far-eastern Black Sea, in the neutral Mediterranean tourism mecca of Antalya.

The first goal of the game, according to Besiktas' web site, came from Turkish-Austrian player Veli Kavlak in the 36th minute of play. Argentinian national Culio scored the equalizer for Orduspor in the 66th minute. But, it was a solid header from German star Fabian Ernst (pictured here) which clinched the game for Besiktas.

Another Istanbul power Fenerbahce drubbed last place Ankara Gucu 4-2 with goals from Slovakian star and former Chelsea player Miroslav Stoch (18th and 58th mins.), Brazilian player Cristian (51st min.) and Senegal national Issia Dia (88th min.).

For the third traditional giant, Galatasaray's Emmanuel Eboue, an Ivory Coast national and former Arsenal player, scored the team's lone goal in the 71st minute for a 1-0 victory over Ankara Genclerbirligi.

Eskisehirspor beat our beloved Bursaspor Crocs 1-0 on a goal from Brazilian player Dede in 87th minute of play. And, Trabzonspor, a team that is also playing in the UEFA Champions League, tied Sivasspor 2-2 with a goal from former Bursapor star Volkan Sen in the 69th minute of play. Erman Kilic, a wingback, scored a late goal for Sivasspor in the 75th minute for the tie.

Fenerbahce is currently first in league play with 28 points; followed by Galatasaray with 25 points and the very surprising Manisaspor with 23 points.

Here are the scores for the entire Turkish Premiere League from this week; Galatasaray and Fenerbahce are reportedly going to play on Wednesday as Trabzonspor, which is in fourth place domestically, faces French power Lille in the UEFA Champions League on that same day:

Sivasspor 2 Trabzonspor 2, tie

Gaziantepspor 1 Samsunspor 0

Galatasaray 1 Ankara Genclerbirligi 0

Fenerbahce 4 Ankara Gucu 2

Antalyaspor 2 Karabukspor 1

Kayersispor 1 Istanbul BB 0

Idman Yurdu (Mersin) 0 Manisaspor 0, tie

Eskisehirspor 1 Bursaspor 0

Besiktas 2 Orduspor 1

For more info on the latest developments on Turkish soccer, we highly recommend following Ahmet Bob Turgut on Twitter (twitter.com/turkishsoccer) or on his blog at (turkeyfootball.blogspot.com).

As for the Greek soccer game we mentioned earlier in the week, Olympiacos previaled over Panatlikos 2-0; they now have the daunting dask of playing Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League tomorrow. Another Greek soccer power AEK Athens won its game over Kekrya 1-0.

CORRECTION: In our last entry, ee incorrecly stated that the previous record from The Cars came out in 1985; it came out in 1987 and the current release is the seventh one from the band (it's already been corrected!).

UPDATE: West Virginia University did indeed win their 'free mustache giveaway' home game over Boston University by a 78-53 score, which we mentioned on Saturday. Asya Bussie had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the winning Mountaineers. Turkish player Deniz Kilicli plays for WVU's men's basketball team.

From the Record Collection (2 of 8)- "Heartbreak City" by The Cars

2011-12-04T16:04:00.000-08:00

We continue our series with records from my own modest collection with a look at the vintage "Heartbreak City" from The Cars (1984). The album which contains the hit singles "You Might Think," "Magic" and "Drive" was produced by Mutt Lange, who has produced everything from heavy metal to country music.

The record was released at a time when videos were the only thing that pre-Beavis and Butthead MTV was dedicated to, and "You Might Think" with its nifty special effects for the time brought in a new younger audience to The Cars which had depended on Album Oriented Rock (AOR) stations with their first four records.

The other catchy videos for songs from "Heartbreak City," included one for the song "Magic" which feautres the lead singer Ric Ocasek walking on water over a swimming pool. This was followed by a video directed by actor Timothy Hutton for the ballad "Drive," which would become the biggest hit single for The Cars as it sky-rocketed to number three on the Billboard charts. The song's lead vocals actually came from the late Ben Orr (1947-2000) who was the band's bass player.

"Heartbreak City" was recorded at Battery Studios in London, and the front cover was a painting entitled "Art-o-Matic-Loop-di-Loop" by English artist Peter Phillips.

A fouth video for "Hello Again," another song on the record, was directed by another artist, Andy Warhol, who like Ocasek was of Czech heritage.

Orr died from pancreatic cancer at age 53 in 2000, but the remaining four members of the band, which also includes Elliot Easton (guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards) and David Robinson (drums) recorded the band's first record since 1987 and seventh overall "Move Like This" earlier this year.

The new album is dedicated to Orr's memory. For the record, The Cars put on a brief tour from Seattle to Boston, during the spring.

Bonus Road Trip- (6 of 10) Charleston, WV, to Charleston, SC

2011-12-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

As we are posting this the West Virginia University's women's basketball team is beating Boston University 63-46 late in the second half at home in Morgantown. We mention this, even though the school is a good two and half hours north of the West Virginia state capital, because the team was giving away free mustaches to the first 1,000 fans in attendance. And, our image is of one of the home team Mountaineer's stand-out players Natalie Burton, a senior from Australia.

We also wish to extend our greetings to those of you who are reading this blog in Armenia and Mongolia today (yes, we are not making this up!). Of course, this means people in my own backyard are likely ignoring us.

Since we went with an image of the Mountaineers, we thought it was only fair to go with the mascot of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, even though the school is in Columbia, which is about two hours from Charleston, SC.

If you are confused, you are not the only one. We believe that the Southern Atlantic League, a single-A minor league in baseball, decided two teams couldn't be called Charleston; so there is now the Charleston River Dogs, the team in South Carolina, and the West Virginia Power, for the team in West Virginia (obviously), which is perhaps one of the oddest names in all of sports. Assuredly, someone probably thinks it's also the name of a utilities industry.

Charleston, SC, was recently (and reportedly) named the best city to visit in North America by "Travel and Leisure," beating out the likes of San Francisco, New York, New Orleans and Montreal. Dinning is one of those main reasons, so we are chooing Magnolia's as our point of destination for the caostal town. Charleston, SC, is also the hometown of political comic/actor Stephen Colbert.

For the other Charleston, the one in West Virginia, we are simply going with Main Kwan Chinese Restaurant. Charleston, West Virginia, is also known for its music scene and the documentary film director Morgan Spurlock ("Supersize Me!") is from Beckley, W.Va., which is 45 miles south of West Virginia's capital.

So, is the distance between the two Charlestons?:

A) 8 hours even

B) 8 hours, 15 minutes

C) 8 hours, 30 minutes

D) 8 hours, 45 minutes

E) 9 hours even

SIDEBAR: We loved this tweet from Lorna Appleby, a resident of Vancouver, Canada, that was posted yesterday: "The main problem with hunting your own turkey is that the gun shots scare the other shoppers."

SIDEBAR TWO: We imagine that University of North Carolina men's basketball fans are bemoaning the Tarheels' 73-72 loss to the University of Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington, Ky. But, it was a much worse day for the men's basketball team from the New Jersey Institute of Technology; they lost to the Georgetown Hoyas 84-44 today.

Things We Learned on Google Today- Olympiacos Has Won 38 Greek Soccer Titles

2011-12-02T08:34:00.001-08:00

Today's soccer team of the week on this blog is Olympiacos (or Olympiakos), a Greek soccer powerhouse based in the port city of Piraeus, near Athens.

The image above is sort of a joke as Priest Christos, who is really a Greek Orthodox priest, is a fan for one of Olympiacos' main rivals, PAOK FC (Thessaloniki) and apparently the priest's devoution to soccer madness has caused him legal problems.

Ironically, the colors of PAOK FC are identical to those worn by the Turkish team Besiktas (Istanbul), and I suppose this is a good time to mention that I am a Turkish-American, though I prefer Galatasaray over Besiktas.

Of course, what this means to those of you born after 1974 when Turkey and Greece went to war over Cyprus, is that I will really have to spell all these long and difficult Greek names correctly!

Olympiacos is also in the UEFA Champions League, and they are in Group F, a group of death, featuring such traditional Euro powers as Arsenal (England), Dortmund (Germany) and Marseille (France). Their next game is against Arsenal on Dec. 11. The English premiere league power has several international greats, including Robin van Persie from the Netherlands and Andrei Arshavin from Russia.

But, the Greek team has its own impressive roster, with the likes of Ioannis Fetfatzidis (whew, hope I spelled his name right!) who has been called 'the Greek Messi' in reference to Argentinian soccer superstar Lionel Messi. The Greek Messi scored the lone goal in the team's 1-0 win over Marseilles on Nov. 23.

Domestically, things are looking better for the team with 38 Greek titles, as they bounced back from a 2-0 loss to astera Tripoli with a 6-0 drubbing of Doxa Dramas. We believe the team is slated to play rival Panaitokolis (Athens) over the weekend. The third major rival for Olympiacos is AEK Athens.

Hooliganism is a problem in Greek soccer, as is the case in England and Turkey as well, as figths between fans of rival clubs have become violent and even deadly in some instances.

The captain of the current squad is Vasilis Toosidis and the co-captain is Avroam Papadopoulos (whew, again!). But, the team has a highly diverse international roster inclusing Swedish soccer star Olef Mellberg and French player Francois Modesto.

In addition, Olympiacos features five Spanish nationals, two Algerian players and two Serbian futbolers.

The team is currently in third place in both the domestic league and the UEFA Champions League.

The two teams on top of the Greek Premiere League are as of right now first-place Panathinaikos and second-place AEK Athens.

SIDEBAR: Interestingly enough as we were putting this piece together, we heard through a Terry Gross interview with Jeffrey Rosen from "The New Republic" yesterday on NPR's "Fresh Air," that in 2007, Youtube was blocked in Turkey. I was always aware of what happened, but I didn't realize the infamous Youtube videos which hurled insults at Mustafa Kemal Ataturk were, at least in part, posted by Greek soccer militants.

This incident put Nicole Wong of Google, which owns Youtube, in a very awkward disposition. As it is, Youtube was banned in Turkey as a result of the videos. We are not sure if the ban is still in place or not.

Quoting William Shakespeare (1 of 5)

2011-12-01T21:39:00.001-08:00

What do Che Guevara, Jesus Christ and William Shakespeare all have in common?

Well, they've all had bobblehead dolls made after them, of course!

Here is our quip from the Bard:

"Ambition should be made of sterner stuff."

If you are looking for a refuge from Christmas play season, we highly recommend a production of the American Shakespeare Center's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" if you happen to be in the Staunton, Va., area where the stage company is based.

SIDEBAR: I happy to report that my doppelganger, and yes we checked Google to make sure this term was spelled correctly, Cenk Uygur will be back on television with a new daily show airing on Current TV at 7:00 p.m.

Uygur and I have many things in common. We are both politically progressive. We are both Turkish-Americans. And, amazingly enough we were born on a mere 16 days a part in March of 1970 (I was the one who was born first, not that that matters really).

Up until George W. Bush's now dubious decision to go to war over Iraq, Uygur was actually a Republican so I presume he did not vote for Michael Dukakis, a Greek-American, as I did, which did NOT quite go over well with the relatives in Istanbul.

And, I supported Hillary Clinton at the primary stage though Uygur endorsed Barack Obama. Ironically, it seems that I am considerably less critical of Obama than Uygur. But, all things considered, I agree with Uygur about 90 percent of the time, and I know he will be a great counter to the dittoheads on Fox News, and a strong complement to Keith Olbermann's show which airs at 8:00 p.m. on Current.

Both Olbermann and Uygur were previously talk show hosts on MSNBC.

SIDEBAR TWO: The answer to our Rabbit Ears Quiz on "H.R. Pufnstuf" (not spelled correctly on our tags) was C) $325. Yes, that is how much someone on e-bay is offering for an H.R. Pufnstuf lunch box. The products were made in limited quantity in 1971. We sure hope it has the thermos.

Quote of the Day/Week- Atom Egoyan

2011-11-30T07:03:00.001-08:00

Today, we conclude our month series of quips from famous Canadians with a quote from Toronto-based film director Atom Egoyan, 51, who is of Armenian heritage and was born in Cairo, Egypt- of all places.

Egoyan is known for a wide range of independent films, including his most highly-regarded film "The Sweet Hereafter" (1997) which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Director. Other works of his include "Calendar" (1993), which was partially filmed in Armenia, "Exotica" (1994), "Felicia's Journey" (1999) and "Ararat" (2002).

Egoyan is reportedly very influenced by the work of German director Wim Wenders, whom we quoted yesterday.

Here is Egoyan's quote:

"I think ultimately if you have a very high expectation of your audience and you know exactly what is it you're trying to express through the medium of film, there will always be an audience for you."

Quote of the Day/Week- Wim Wenders

2011-11-29T12:31:00.000-08:00

We continue quoting famous Germans with a quip from my personal favorite German film director Wim Wenders, who is known for working with many unique artistic people, including the late actor Dennis Hopper ("The American Friend") in 1977; musician Ry Cooder ("Paris, Texas") in 1984; and rock icon Bono from U2 ("The Million Dollar Hotel") in 2000. Wenders in turn directed several of the legendary Irish band's videos.

Currently, audiences in large market American cities like Seattle, Chicago and New York can see his latest film, the documentary "Pina."

Here is his quote:

"Any film that supports the idea that things can be changed is a great film in my eyes."

Wenders is perhaps best-known for his amazing 1987 German-language film (several of the director's films have been in English, including "Paris, Texas") "Wings of Desire."

SIDEBAR ONE: Wow! As a subscriber to "The Washingtonian" magazine, I am wondering who the very attractive nude girl on the cover of the December 2011 issue is. In the photo taken by Erika McConnell, one can't actually see anything besides her hair, face, legs and feet, which looked so polished that one has to wonder if she got a pedicure at the supposedly upscale salon Joy Spa in the Adams Morgan part of Washington, D.C.

The magazine did not identify the woman in the credits insert, but one has to imagine she is a highly sought-after local model.

Of course, since I am a man, I am not inclined to get pedicures, and hence I have no idea how much they would cost, but I did get an expensive $45 haircut over the summer. (Not at Joy Spa, as I don't live in DC).

SIDEBAR TWO: Going back to cinema, the Circle Cinema in Tulsa, Oklahoma, put forth the following question via Twitter this afternoon: "What is your favorite Lars von Trier film?," in reference to the eccentric, controversial Danish director, known for "Dogville" and "Anti-Christ." My choice would be "Manderlay" as it is so over-the-top in every way.

The director's latest film "Melancholia" with Kirsten Dunst (wow, I actually had to google her name to make sure her first name was spelled right!) is showing at the A/perture Cinema in Winston-Salem, NC. We are not sure if Circle Cinema is actually showing the film, but we don't live in Oklahoma either!

Sports Desk- Women's NCAA Volleyball Tourney Begins

2011-11-28T20:11:00.000-08:00

The Liberty University Flames will have its hands full as the team from Lynchburg, Va., heads up to University Park, Pa., to face four-time defending NCAA champion Penn State on the Nittany Lions' home floor in the women's volleyball match-up on Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. For the team, one of the players to watch will be Micha Hancock, the Big 10 Freshman of the Year.

The seedings were announced on Sunday; Liberty is the only Virginia team which made the field of 64. But, the ACC was represented well as four teams made the field, including the Duke BlueDevils, a team that will face the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on Dec. 1st at 7:00 p.m. The game could be the most anticipated one of the first round.

The BlueDevils' team features Ali McCurdy, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, and her high school teamate from Tampa, Kellie Catanach as well as blocker Chritiana Gray. While the 'Vols have SEC Player of the Year Kelsey Robinson on their team roster.

Other games of interest in the first round include the University of Arizona's game with Michigan State. The Wildcats have libero Emily Helm and Czech hitter Marketa Hanzlova on its roster.

Both the PAC-12 and the Big 10 got many teams in the tournament. Arizona joins UCLA, Stanford, Oregon and California in the field. While the Big 10 has a staggering eight teams, including two top seeds in Illinois and Nebraska.

Among those teams will be the University of Michigan; they play Baylor in Palo Alto, Calif., on Dec. 2 at 4:30 p.m. (eastern time). The Wolverines feature outstanding players in Claire McElheny and Lexi Erwin (we believe she is the player featured in the above image). While the Bears' team includes stand-out Briana Tolbert, a senior from Houston.

Another potentially competitive first-round game appears to be the University of Florida's match with the University of Missouri in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (at Northern Iowa University). One of the Gators' top players Chloe Mann is actually from Gainesville, where the school is located.

Many games are expected to be televised on ESPNU.

SIDEBAR: Since we presume folks in England are mad about soccer, and the United Kingdom is one country where we get many hits, I thought would give a brief run-down of weekend soccer scores from the English Premiere League. The Tottenham Spurs continue to be on a roll as they beat West Bromwich 3-1.

Here is a partial list of the weekend games with their final scores; Manchester City remains five points ahead of cross-town rival Manchester United in the league standings:

Liverpool 1 Manchester City 1
Stoke City 3 Blackburn 1
Chelsea 3 Wolverhampton 0
Manchester United 1 Newcastle 1
Arsenal 1 Fulham 1

The Rabbitt Ears Quiz (3 of 12) How Much for That H.R. Pufnstuf Lunch Box

2011-11-28T12:57:00.000-08:00

Witchiepoo, the villain from the Sid and Marty Kroftt cult tv classic "H.R. Pufnstuf," is the image you should be seeing if everything is going according to plan.

The children's tv show made its debut on Sept. 6, 1969, and it lasted until NBC decided to abruptly can the production after 17 episodes in August of 1972. Today, one can presumably watch the show for free on hulu.com; well, hopefully, we haven't misguided anyone.

There are many unqiue things about this show which could easily make this entry as long as a chapter in Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace."

For starters, the show had the proverbial fairy tale/"Wizard of Oz" plot of good versus evil, and the adventures revolved around a shipwrecked youngster named Jimmy, played by the late Jack Wild (1952-2006). While on the isle, Jack ran into Mayor H.R. Pufnstuf. Tragically enough, both Wild and Lennie Winrid (1935-2006) who was the voice of H.R. Pufnstuf (along with Scrappy Doo and Bigmouth on "The Smurfs") died in the same year.

The show also featured unique supporting characters, including Freddy the Flute, Dr. Blinky (the owl) and Judy the Frog.

Now, for the dirt....yes, the show has been accused of making many drug references to marijuana, and the matter was profiled in a 2003 issue of "Cannibis Culture." Both Sid and Marty Krofft, who created the show, are still alive. Marty has denied any efforts to link his children's show to a Cheech and Chong movie. But, of the many instances that the journal cited were: 1) the fact that H.F. Pufnstuf is a green figure with red hair. 2) the term 'black bart' which is code for marijuana is mentioned in one episode, and 3) Witchipoo's laughing gas. Oh, there are also magic mushrooms (we believe) in one episode.

"H.R. Pufnstuf" is also unique because it was both the defendant in a lawsuit against it (not for pot) and a plantiff in a suit the producers brought forth.

Paul Simon succesfully sued the producers on the grounds that the theme song, which contains lyrics that some find suggestive towards marijuana, was too much like his popular song "59th Street Bridge (Feeling Groovy)."

Conversely, the producers in turn successfully sued McD's because Mayor McCheese looked a bit too much like H.R. Pufnstuf.

But, our question today pertains to the worth of the show's limited edition lunch boxes, which are worth an astonishing amount of money, epsecially if it comes with the thermos!

On e-bay, we noticed that the following dollar amount was going out for the box, is the answer?:

A) $225

B) $275

C) $325

D) $375

SIDEBAR: In case, you were wondering, the answer to last week's Bonus Road Trip between Cincinnati and Boulder, Colo., is B) 19 hours.

Casulaties of Modern Technology- 8-Track Tapes (3 of 12)

2011-11-25T08:30:00.001-08:00

Wow! I actually got the image of exactly what I wanted: an 8-track of "Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits;" that rarely happens! Perhaps, now I can finally get a date with Uma Thurman, who is my version of the Little Red Head Girl.

The 8-track tapes were magnetic tapes that usually held about eight tracks worth of music. They were popular, mainly in the United States, from the 1960s to the
late '70s, and included everything from country to disco.

I recall actually getting 8-track tapes for bands like Rush and Yes, when I was in high school circa 1986, but I never found an 8-track player for them. According to Wikipedia, some 8-track tapes like Pink Floyd's "Animals" used piano solos to fill the voids in the 8-tracks. Recently, I saw an 8-track of "Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits" at an antique store in rural Virginia.

"Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits" (1988) is believed to be the last recording released on 8-track tape. 8-tracks were done in by cassette tapes, which were done in by cds, which have been done in by MP-3 players, but hey, at least albums are making a comeback!

Happy Thanksgiving from Charlie Brown

2011-11-24T18:41:00.001-08:00

As is our tradition whenever there is a holiday, we like to wish it from a cartoon character, kitschy celebrity (such as Barry Manilow) or whacko politician (ie. Michele Bachmann). And, today we go with the legendary comic strip character Charlie Brown, the brainchild of Charles Schultz (1922-2000).

When I was tutoring a student taking an English class, I actually compared Charlie Brown to Willy Loman, the character at the center of Arthur Miller's stage play "Death of a Salesman," in order to get the student to grasp the play's themes and simplify them.

Charlie Brown made his debut in "Peanuts" on Oct. 2, 1950. Snoopy came into the picture two days later. The beloved pooch also made its Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade debut as a float in 1968, a full 16 years before a float for Garfield, the comic strip cat created by Jim Davis that debuted in 1978, made his way down lower Manhattan in 1986.

Today's parade also feature a reincarnation of a float for the video game character Sonic the Hedgehog and a float created by filmmaker Tim Buron, called Character B.

Charlie Brown is noted for his rivalry with Lucy van Pelt, who pulls the football away from him as she did in the very last original "Peanuts" strip on Feb. 13, 2000.

The Little Red Head Girl is the figure of Charlie Brown's infactuation, but since he represents futility across the board, he never gets to meet her_ not even for a date at Starbucks (yes, we are aware there were no Starbucks around in 1950; it was a joke). She never actually physically appears in any of the comic strips, but her face has been shown on tv specials for "Peanuts." The character usually appears in strips that were written by Schultz around Valentine's Day.

Charlie Brown is also associated with the holidays because of both the Thanksgiving special, which first aired on Nov. 20, 1973, and the Christmas special, which premiered on Dec. 9, 1965, before folks in the United States started celebrating Christmas in September!

SIDE DISH: As we reported yesterday, my alma mater Radford University played the Univeristy of Kentucky, the #2-ranked men's basketball team, in Lexington, Ky., last night. And, like Charlie Brown trying to kick the dreaded football, the Highlanders came up very short in an 88-40 loss to the Wildcats. Terrence Jones scored 17 points for the home team; Jonathan Edwards scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds for RU.

SIDE DISH TWO: Yes, folks started lining some time ago for the Black Friday Sale at Target which gets underway at midnight here on the East. According to a tweet from "The Charlotte Observer," some 15 customers had started lining up at the main Charlotte, NC, Target store circa 8:00 p.m., a full hours before the madness begins.

Quote of the Week- Brian Orser

2011-11-23T14:28:00.000-08:00

Today, we continue to quote famous Canadians we quip men's figure skater Brian Orser, who turns 50 on Dec. 18. Orser won silver medals at both the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo (which was in Yugoslavia at the time, now it's the capital of Bosnia) and the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, in front of Orser's home fans.

Orser lost his quest for gold to American ice skater Brian Boitano, in what became known as "The Battle of the Brians."

Today, Orser is known for coaching young figure skaters. Among his proteges is Yuna Kim (or Kim yu-Na), 21, a South Korean women's figure skater who won gold at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Here is Orser's quote:

"It's not who does the most tricks, but the total package."

SIDEBAR: Tonight, my alma mater Radford University faces the University of Kentucky, a team ranked second in the nation, in NCAA men's basketball. The game will be in Lexington, Ky. I wish the Highlanders well as they face the Wildcats. Assuredly, if the team wins I may have a chance of a date with Vendela.

SIDEBAR 2: As of late, I have become very interested in European soccer, especially regarding English teams. Today, in UEFA action, Arsenal beat German team Dortmund 2-0 on two goals from their star Robin Van Persie.

But, Chelsea did not fare well against another German team Bayer Leverkusen by a 2-1 margin. Chelsea star and Ivory Coast national Didier Drogba scored the first goal of the away match in the 48th minute of play. However, Eren Derdiyok, a Swiss national of Kurdish descent who also has Turkish citizenship, scored the equalizer for the home squad in the 73rd minute. And, then German national team star Manuel Friedrich scored the game winner for Bayer in extra time. Thus, Chelsea fell 2-1.

In other games, Bracelona beat AC Milan 3-2, and the Czech team Viktoria Pizen scored a 1-0 victory over BATE Borisev, a team from Belarus.

Quote of the Day- Boris Becker

2011-11-22T17:24:00.000-08:00

Today, we continue our quotes from famous Germans with a quip from the tennis great Boris Becker, who won Wimbledon when he was just 17. Today, Becker turns 44, and here is his quote:

"Does anyone ask their parents how they are conceived?"

SIDBAR: I want to congratulate my good friend Chris Tilley, who is highly regarded as a local playwright in Greensboro, NC, for the second anniversary of his blog:
my-naked-blogspot.com

SIDEBAR 2: Since we discussed English soccer yesterday, I thought I would relay from scores from today's UEFA Cup games played across Europe. It was not a particularly good day for English teams as Manchester United tied the Portuguese team Benefica 2-2 and their cross-town rival Manchester City, a team that currently leads the English Premiere League, feel to Italian power Napoli 2-1.

But, arguably the most misreable soccer player in Europe is Vasili Berezutzky who headed a ball into his own net, paving the way for the French team Lille's 2-0 win over CSKA Moscow. For the French club team, Senegal national Moussa Sow scored the other goal.

Meanwhile, Ajax Amsterdam and Lyon played to a 0-0 tie.

Sports Desk- English Soccer Winners

2011-11-21T15:48:00.000-08:00

Interesting week for English soccer as many rivals met each other. Yesterday, English soccer star Glen Johnson (pictured here) kicked in the game-winng goal for Liverpool against his former team Chelsea, giving his new team a 2-1 win. Argentinian Maxi Rodriguez scored for Liverpool earlier in the 33rd minute. And, Englishman Daniel Sturridge scored the lone goal for Chelsea in the 55th minute.

I was able to watch that game on American television yesterday, but I overslept Arsenal's 2-1 win over Norwich City, which aired at 7:30 a.m. here in les etats unis SAturday morning. Dutch star Robin ven Persie game through for Arsenal with goals in the 27th and 59th minute. Welsh player Steve Morison scored for Norwich in the 16th minute.

League leader Manchester City also won on Saturday by pummeling Newcastle 3-1. The goals for Manchester City came from Italian Mario Balotelli (41st minute); English player M. Richards (44th minute) and Argentinian Kun Aguero (72nd minute). English player Dan Gosling scored the lone goal late in the game for Newcastle.

And, today, Tottenham climbed to a third place tie with Newcastle after the team's 2-0 win over Aston Villa. Both goals for Tottenham came from Togo national player Emmanuel Adebayor.

Manchester United is second behind Manchester City in the English League thanks to the team's 1-0 win over Swansea on Saturday.

Here are the complete results of weekend play:

Fulham 0 Sunderland 0

Manchester City 3 Newcastle 1

Tottenham 2 Aston Villa 0

Queens Park 3 Stoke City 2

Everton 2 Wolverton 1

Manchester United 1 Swansea 0

Liverpool 2 Chelsea 1

Arsenal 2 Norwich City 1

Blackburn 3 Wigan Athletic 1

W. Bromal 2 Bolton 1

SIDEBAR: I read a funny tweet from Turkish soccer authority Ahmet Bob Turgut, who lives here in America. The tweet was in Turkish, but it simply asked "Is Anyone in Turkey watching the MLS Cup?"

For those who missed it, irregardless if you are in Boston or Istanbul, was:
L.A. Galaxy 1 Houston 0. The lone goal for the Galaxy was scored by American soccer star Landon Donovan in the 72nd minute.

From the LP Collection_ "Goats Head Soup" by The Rolling Stones (1 of 8)

2011-11-18T13:25:00.000-08:00

Today, we start a feature about a few of the records in my own personal lp collection, which I have become increasingly interested in within the last six months.

The first one of these records we'll be profiling is "Goats Head Soup," the 13th studio record by The Rollins Stones. Released in 1973, the album fatures what is arguably the band's most popular ballad "Angie." It also contains the the track "Doo Doo Doo Doo Dooo (Heartbreaker)," which according to Wkipedia is about the NYPD's accidental shooting of a ten-year-old.

The album was recorded at Dynamic Sound Studio in Kingston, Jamaica, at a time when lead singer Mick Jagger was becoming influenced by the reggae music of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.

The album came after "Exile on Main St." (1972) and before "It's Only Rock n Roll"
(1974). It was one of five albums from the band that were produced by the late Jimmy Miller (1942-1998).

Coincidentally, Miller was not the only person involved with "Goats Head Soup" who died at a relative young age or relative young age as that fate also bestowed the musicians Billy Preston (1946-2006), Ian Stewart (1938-1985) and Nicky Hopkins (1944-1994) who each played on the record.

"Goats Head Soup" runs for 46:56, and it also contains the songs "100 Years Ago," "Silver Train" and "Star Star."

The album brings back humorous memories for me as I jokingly sang the song "Angie" while on a group of Belize, which proved I was not quite ready for the karaoke scene.

I found this record at either a yard sale, an antique shop or the now defunct regional record chain "The Record Exchange," but if you are looking for vinyl to your own collection and you reside in North Carolina, I highly recommend All Day Records in Carrboro (Chapel Hill).

NOTE: Since there any things we need to do (carving turkey is actually not one of them) during this upcoming Thanksgiving week, we will be on temporary hiatus until Tuesday.

Bonus Road Trip- Cincy to Boulder (5 of 10)

2011-11-17T12:28:00.000-08:00

Today, we look at the distance between the settings of two iconic late '70s sitcoms as we survey the distance between Boulder, Colo., the setting of "Mork and Mindy," and "WKRP in Cincinnati," which was, of course, set in Cincinnati, Ohio.

For this, we chose the addresses of WKRQ (101.9-FM) in Cincinnati and The West End Tavern in Boulder, Colo. If anyone travels to Cincy, we highly recommend the American Sign Museum, which is ever the fascinating place.

Is the answer:

A) 18 hours

B) 19 hours

C) 20 hours

D) 21 hours

SIDEBAR: Back in January, we posted an entry on either this blog or my other one (we don't have archivists) about the heavy metal band GWAR. Alas, Cory Smoot aka "Flattus Maximus" of the band died on Nov. 3. But, the band went on with its scheduled performance in Tempe, Az., earlier in the week and paid tribute tribute to their fallen guitarist by dousing the crowd with blood. Hmmm.....

Quote of the Day- Wayne Gretzky

2011-11-16T10:33:00.001-08:00

We continue to quote famous Canadians today with a quip from Wayne Gretzky, who is considered to be the great hockey player of all time. Gretzky, 50, is an Ontario native who won four Stanley Cups for the Edmonton Oilers.

Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988 in what became the most controversial trade in North American sports history. Gretzky later played for the St. Louis Blues and the New York Rangers. He retired while playing for the Rangers in 1999. The Oilers won an additional Stanley Cup after Gretzky's trade.

Here is his quote:

"A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey plays where the puck is going to be."

Quote of the Day- Franz Beckenbauer

2011-11-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

Today, in our series of quotes from famous Germans, we quip the great German soccer player Franz Beckenbauer, 66, who was credited with inventing the modern sweeper/libero position and who is one of many legendary soccer players who played for Bayern Munich.

Beckenbauer helped then West Germany win the World Cup in 1974, and he helped Bayern Munich win three straight European soccer titles from 1974-76. The German soccer great also played in the first incarnation of pro soccer in America with the New York Cosmos from 1977-80, '83 (Today's MLS team in New York is called the Red Bulls).

Here is his quoteL

"Certainly, it is a different world for players nowadays. But, it depends on the individual."

SIDEBAR: Many of today's top German soccer players are of Turkish origin. These players often get caught up in the politics of whether to play for Germany or Turkey. Interstingly enough, the current roster of Real Madrid, believed to be the best team in Europe, consists of three such players in superstar Mesut Ozil, Hamit Altintop and Nuri Sahin.

Ozil chose to play for Germany, while Altintop and Sahin chose to play for Turkey. In a 3-0 defeat to Croatia on Friday, Altintop reportedly made an amazing dive which has become popular on Youtube. Hamit Altintop's twin brother Halil Altintop plays for the Turkish team Trabzonspor, which is also competing in the UEFA Cup.

Things We Learned on Google Today- Lyon Has Won 7 French Titles

2011-11-14T17:36:00.001-08:00

In our 13th profile of 15 world soccer teams, we turn our attention to the French soccer power Olympique Lyonnais, which is known simply as Lyon, the same name as the city they play for.

Lyon did not win its first domestic title until the 2001-02 season, but they made up for it by winning a staggering seven French premiere league titles in a row.

During the 2009-10 season, Lyon also reached the semi-finals of the coveted UEFA Cup, before bowing out to German power Bayern Munich.

Lyon is playing for the current UEFA Cup as well, but their hopes of advancing to the next round seem given their home loss Spanish power Real Madrid 2-0, both goals in the match were scored by Portuguese superstar Christiano Ronaldo, earlier this month.

Thus, Lyon is in third place behind the Dutch team Ajax Amsterdam (the last team we profiled), in Group D. Lyon visits Amsterdam on Nov. 22 when Real Madrid will face the Crotian team Dynamo Zagreb, which is in last place.

In domestic play, Lyon last played arch rival St. Etienne and the team prevailed
2-0. Lyon is reportedly in second place in the French league behind Paris St. Germain which tied Bordeaux 1-1.

The captain for Lyon is Brazilian player Cris (Cristiano Gomes), 34, and the team's goalie is French player Hugo Lloris, 24, (pictured), who is vying to become the French national goal keeper.

On Friday, the French national team beat the United States 1-0 in a friendly. Since I carry an American passport, I could gripe about this, but hey the French gave us Asterix the Gaul. Having said that, I hope we beat the living daylights out of them next time (that is a joke; I'm not a Republican).

SIDEBAR: Closer to home, Martinsburg High School (Martinsburg, West Virginia) decked Woodrow Wilson High School from Beckley, West Virginia, in a home game played on Friday by a score of 49-13.

PS-The answer to our Rabbitt Ears quiz was C) Boulder, Colorado, which is where "Mork and Mindy" took place.

Things We Learned on Twitter Tonight- Occupy Chapel Hill Ends Badly

2011-11-13T19:14:00.000-08:00

It was not the Varsity Theatre (pictured here) where they are showing "Contagion" and "Crazy, Stupid Love" (it's a second-house venue now) that was occupied as part of the Occupy Chapel Hill movement, but rather a vacant car lot, also on Franklin Street where the cinema is.

According to a tweet from "The Daily Tarheel," the student-run newspaper of the University of North Carolina, the movement was broken by police.

We later learned from various sources that eight people were arrested as a SWAT team and 25 police officers broke up the gathering around 4:30 p.m. today. Some 70 people were in the building.

The matter will likely be a controversial one for Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, who was just re-elected on Tuesday. Occupy Chapel Hill is one of many movements inspired by Occupy Wall Street.

Chapel Hill is considered to be the most progressive zip code in North Carolina, and it is home to The Internationalist Bookstore, which is a gathering place for liberal activists in the collegetown community.

Highlights From My Things to Improve My Life List

2011-11-12T19:14:00.000-08:00

Relationships. Career Networking. Proper Diet and Exercise. How to get along with your Spacely Sprockets boss*. Let's face it, self-help books are very trendy even if more and more people are reading "War and Peace" via Kindle now.

And, since I've already wasted some precious time on this Saturday night by watching a Jewish satire of "Dexter," a 'Star Trek' opera sequence and a cello/orchestra take on the kitschy '80s hard rock anthem "The Final Countdown" as performed in Kipsala, Latvia, on Youtube, posting portions of a list seems like a simpler way to post today's blog entry.

There are actually 24 things on the whole list; I've decided to divide them up into 12 items for my two blogs.

Here is the first part of the list:

1. Get a girlfriend

2. Write second draft of novel you've been kinda/sorta working on since March.

3. Exercise/join a gym/anything but power yoga

4. Move out of current zip code of residence (yes, that's why the U-Haul truck is pictured above)

5. Take more photographs, especially of old things

6. Write some more poems; Nikki Giovanni had to start somewhere

7. Write second draft of memoir that was typed up last year, after all it might not get published for 24 years when mom will be 95.

8. Put photographs up on Facebook

9. Be more organised (we're using the British spelling to get more hits from the UK).

10. Listen to more vinyl; we should find a copy of "Some Girls" by The Rolling Stones.

11. Write a full-length play; anything has to be better than the failed soap opera satire I wrote three years ago.

12. Learn how to socially network via the Internet.

*-Demanding boss in the 1960s cartoon "The Jetsons"

Virtual Postcard from Kentucky- Bennett's Mill Covered Bridge

2011-11-11T20:57:00.000-08:00

This is one of the rare times when I post a blog entry with a laptop. Contrary to popular opinion, I am really not that tech savvy even though I run two blogs. Assuredly, the recently deceased Steve Jobs might have been very iritated with me!

While I did see the Mud River Covered Bridge in Milton, WVa, thanks to directions from a senior citizen who once served in the military and was celebrating Veterans Day today, this image is of the Bennett's Mill Covered Bridge near Arentum, Ky, which I have not visited. But, since I am in Kentucky for the weekend, I thought it would be more appropriate.

The bridge is located in Greenup County, home of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, in the far northeast part of the Bluegrass State, on Route 7. It was built in 1855, and restored in 2003. 171 cars pass the bridge each day.

And, since it's getting past midnight here, I better quip Porky Pig and say: "That's all Fffffolks!"

Qoute of the Week- K.D. Lang

2011-11-10T18:11:00.000-08:00

In the Whoops Department, this entry was originally contain a quote from Bryan Adams as we intended to quote k.d. Lang (we believe she deliberately using lower-case letters for her first name) on the sister blog.

But, either way, both are Canadian and they both recently had birthdays.

Lang turned 50 on Nov. 2 and Adams turned 52 on Nov. 5; Lang is from Edmonton and Adams is from the Toronto-area.

In addition to being a vocal gay rights advocate, Lang is a vegan, which makes this quip from her very appropriate (ironically I heard a radio ad for meat while getting this entry together):

"If you knew how meat was made, you'd probably lose your lunch."

SIDEBAR: Though I haven't traveled outside the United States as often as I did when I was a child, I have in recent years visited Azerbaijan (in 2008) and Guatemala (in 2005) and I experienced some minor inconveiences with Internet service in both countries. But, apparently Liberia has been one of the worst places to get net service. According to the PRI show "The World," which airs on many NPR stations in America, that may soon change thanks to an underwater cable.

Local residents of Monrovia, the Liberian capital, told reporters for the program that they had to pay two dollars an hour at Internet cafes (which given the country's poverty would be equal to an American paying $20/hour), and that one hour of service has usually meant a mere 20 minutes of net time.

Quote of the Day- Johannes Brahms

2011-11-10T17:45:00.003-08:00

Today, since we are quoting famous Germans throughout November, we are going to quip the great composer Johannes Brahms (1835-1897), who along with Ludwig von Beethoven and Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the 'three bs.'

This quote seems like one which might come from a counter-culture icon of the 1960s like Lenny Bruce or Frank Zappa:

"If there is anyone here whom I have not insulted, I beg his pardon."

I teased a young, blonde female Starbucks barista in Front Royal, Va. (not the actual Starbucks where I met this woman) whose boyfriend is into classical music that there is in fact a 24-hour classical music station in Washington, DC, (actually WETA-FM is based in the DC 'burb of Arlington, Va).

There is also a 24-hour classical musical station WCPE in Raleigh, NC, which offers simulcasts to radio stations in Hot Springs, Va., Joplin, Missouri, and Sioux City, Iowa.

WETA-FM, an NPR station, played portions of the Brahms' Piano Concerto today, circa 11:00 a.m., while WCPE-FM played portions of Brahms' Symphony #1 at around 1:15 p.m.

Of course, Germany is known for other kinds of music besides classical, as the '80s hard rock band The Scorpions ("Rock Me Like a Hurricane") and the political New Wave pop singer Nena ("99 Luft Balloons") also hailed from there.

The Rabbit Ears Quiz- Mork and Mindy (Entry 2 of 12)

2011-11-08T13:07:00.000-08:00

Today, we continue our series on tv shows which infiltrated my developing years with a quiz question regarding "Mork and Mindy" (1978-82), which in my lasted much longer than the four seasons it was actually on the air.

Many young folks may not realize that 'Mork' was actually a spin-off of the very popular '70s sitcom "Happy Days." Mork, played by Robin Williams, visited the Cunnigham family in suburban Wisconsin during the fifth season of "Happy Days" in a strange episode entitled "My Favorite Orkan."

In spite of being a ratings bonanza during its first season, 'Mork' began to take a nose-dive in popularity during the show's third season. And, in the final season, Mork and Mindy were dubiously married.

Mork was from the planet Ork, and he was given instructions by a supreme deity named Orson. Minday was played by Pam Dawber.

Many people who haven't seen the show in years (it ran on Nick at Nite from 1991-95), may have forgotten that it was the rare sitcom to take place in a college town. So, we are asking for the name of that college town, where one also find a clock which is supposedly always accurate.

Your choices are:

A) Provo, Utah
B) Iowa City, Iowa
C) Boulder, Colorado
D) Lawrence, Kansas

Good luck, and sorry we have no prizes to give you, not even a cat toy!

SIDEBAR: I wanted to wish an Eid Mubarak to all of our Muslim friends, especially those living in Provo, Utah! Amazingly enough, I read that a surprising number of Muslims attend college at Brigham Young University.

And, though one may not associate UFOs with the Muslim world, there is indeed a UFO Museum in Istanbul, Turkey, which I have actually been to.

Casualties of Modern Technology- The VHS Tape (Entry 2 of 12)

2011-11-08T12:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the six day layover at the airport in Atlanta (well, it would take too long to explain why I was really gone for this long), but let's get back to bizness (deliberately spelled wrong for all you English teachers out there; in-joke) here with an entry dedicated to the VHS cassette tape or videotape, which have all but vanished from the face of the earth.

My friend Jason Garnett actually held a VHS Night at the Shadowbox Microcinema in Roanoke, Va., where the film "Rad" (1986) with former Olympic gymnast Bart Conner- of all people- was screened. The film actually revolves around the world of BMX racing.

"Rad" was one of three feature films in the mid-80s to star men's gymnastics stars. The other two included "Gymkata" (1985) with Kurt Thomas and "American Anthem"
(1986) with Mitch Gaylord, a film that also featured a very gorgeous Janet Jones who later married hockey icon Wayne Gretzky.

Amazingly enough, no one in Hollywood thought of making such a film starring women's gymnastics darling Mary Lou Retton, but perhaps that was a good thing.

The videotape was first sampled in 1951 by Bing Crosby Productions, according to Wikipedia. Videotapes became widely available in the 1970s. Since VCRs were very expensive until the 1980s, there was little consumer demand for them. That all changed very quickly and cult films, like the South African wonder-hit "The Gods Must be Crazy" (1984), were more widely seen than the films were during their theatrical runs.

But, by the 1990s, dvds came and well the proverbial credits started to roll for the VHS tape.

SIDEBAR: We want to wish Parker Posey a happy 43rd birthday. No, we do not know her personally.

Quote of the Week- William Shatner

2011-11-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

Admitedly, us Americans tend to overlook our neighbors to the north. In fact, my last entry dedicated to a Canadian may have been when I wished former UCLA gymnast and Canadian Olympian Yvonne Tousek a happy 30th birthday (on our other blog) last year.

But, this month, I am quoting all sorts of famous Canadians. And, perhaps no Canadian is as famous as William Shatner, who turned 80 earlier this year. He is, of course, known for playing Captain Kirk on "Star Trek" on tv in the '60s, and again with a series of films starting in 1979.

Recently, Shatner stunned the world by releasing a music album with his covers of songs like "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. Having heard a snipet of the song on NPR, I can vouch that listening to the Oak Ridge Boys' song "Elvira" on an AM country radio station in Kentucky might be slightly less painful.

So, here is our quote from Shatner:

"How do I so healthy and boyishly handsome? It's simple. I drink the blood of young runaways."

SIDEBAR: Our good friend and fellow blogger Chris Knight took on Shatner in a spoof of "Priceline" commercials with the help of Addy Miller, who is the little zombie girl in AMC's "The Walking Dead." And, Shatner himself actually tweeted about the matter!

A similar thing occured several months ago when Harry Shearer, the voice of Principal Skinner on "The Simpsons," tweeted that my friend Jason Garnett was showing Shearer's documentary film about the Hurrican Katrina fiasco "The Big Uneasy" at the Shadowbox Microcinema in Roanoke, Va. That film is now out on dvd.

SIDEBAR TWO: Much focus has been on the futile marriage between Armenian-American model/celebrity/reality tv show star Kim Kardashian and Kris Humpries of the New Jersey Nets. For those who have been hanging out in Buddhist monastaries in Bhutan, the marriage ended after a mere 72 days on Monday. A Twitter site for the Nets actually asked fans if Kardashian should give her gifts back?

But, a more interesting thing appears to be happening in the Kardashian family's ethnic homeland. Of course, it is perhaps fittingly ironic that I am mentioning this, since I am a Turkish-American, but the NPR show "The World" ran an amazing story on Tuesday by reporter Shanti Shahrigian about an effort to educate Armenian school children about the game of chess.

As it turns out, even though Armenia has a population of circa three million people, the country has some 30 chess grandmasters. Teacher Grigor Martikian is running the elementary school program, and so far it appears to be quite succesful.

I more or less quit playing chess after losing to an eight-year-old girl who was the reigning Virginia state champ in her age group, an incident which occured some ten years ago. That girl is probably old enough to vote now!

Quote of the Day- Klaus Kinski

2011-11-01T10:30:00.001-07:00

Today, we start our quotes from famous Germans with a quip from the late, great eccentric actor Klaus Kinski (1926-1991) who appeared as the title vampire in the 1979 remake of "Nosferatu" entitled "Nosferatu the Vampire."

The film was one of many that Kinski did with director Werner Herzog, which also included "Fitzcarradlo" (1982). The feud between the two during the shoot in the Amazon River basin of Peru became the basis for Les Blank's acclaimed documentary "Burden of Dreams."

Kinski also appeared in several spaghetti westerns, including the vintage "Bullet for the General" (1966).

Here is his quote:

"I am your fairy tale. Your dream. Your wishes and desires, and I am your thirst, your hunger, your food, and your drink."

Happy Halloween...

2011-10-31T13:28:00.001-07:00

Since this blog is called "The Daily Vampire," we were originally going to use the image of a Dracula costume which you can see on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

But, as it, thanks in part to the AMC series "The Living Dead," zombies appear to be more popular these days.

I even learned from "The Daily Hurriyet," an English-language version of the popular Turkish newspaper "Hurriyet," that there was a Zombie Night on the streets of Istanbul- of all places, in honor of the late Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video.

Special Quote of the Week- Madeline Kahn

2011-10-30T16:11:00.001-07:00

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the month is winding down, I wanted to quote two women who succumbed to cancer. For years, I had assumed that both the late Madeline Kahn (1942-1999, pictured here) and the late Gilda Radner
(1946-1989) died from breast cancer, but I have seen info on the web which suggests the two women both died of ovarian cancer.

But, irregradless, I thought it would be appropriate to quote the great comic actresses. In addition to being close in age, Kahn and Radner were both close to actor Gene Wilder.

Kahn appeared in several Mel Brooks films with him, including "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein" and Radner ultimately became Wilder's spouse.

Here is the quote from Kahn, who died at age 57 when she was a cast member of "The Cosby Show:"

"It's acceptable for men to act the fool. When women try, they're considered agressive or opinionated."

Quote of the Week- Anton Chekhov

2011-10-30T16:00:00.001-07:00

Today, we conclude our quotes from famous Russians with a quip from the great novelist/playwright Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) who alas died way too young_*.

Chekhov is known for penning the plays "The Seagull," "Three Sisters" and "The Cherry Orchard." Los Angeles Theatre Works (LATW) is offering an audio version of "Three Sisters" which includes a cast featuring Jon Hamm (tv's "Mad Men") and his real-life wife Jennifer Westfeldt ("Kissing Jessica Stein").

Here is the quote:

"If are afraid of loneliness, don't marry."

*- I caught a dubious error on my part as I apparently didn't spell Anton Chekhov's name right in an earlier entry; I spelled his name Anton Chehov, don't forget the 'k!'

SIDEBAR: Triad Stage in Greensboro, NC, is currently performing a production of another vintage play from a playwright of Chekhov's era (if we are wrong than any theatre history instructors can let me have it) with "A Doll House" by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The production is currently slated to run until Nov. 6; having seen this production myself, I highly recommend it.

Quote of the Day- Doctor Oz

2011-10-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

Perhaps someone from the central Turkish city of Yozgat, which is believed to be the most right-wing place in the old country would object to me quipping a fellow Turkish-American as opposed to a Turkish person from Turkey, but hey everyone in Fresno has heard of Dr. Oz. The same alas can't be said for the late, great Turkish novelist Aziz Nesin.

Dr. Mehmet Oz is from Cleveland originally, and many of us Turkish-Americans are pleasantly stunned by his success even though we realize it means he will never email us back again.

This month, we are quoting famous Turkish people in honor of October 29th, which is Republic's Day in Turkey. Ironically, as I found out from listening to a segment on "The World" about the Greek Debt Crisis, tomorrow is a national holiday in Greece as well!

Here is the quote from Dr. Oz, who seems to have an unfair advantage over the rest of us with his very short last name, which is one of the reasons why the populr Turkish singer Nil Karaibrahimgil will never sale more records than Lady Gaga (Of course, the fact that she sings in Turkish wouldn't help either):

"You can't get rid of a bad habit, but you can replace it with a good habit."

Sports Desk- ACC Volleyball Action

2011-10-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

It was a very busy weekend for the ACC, but while most people were paying to the football games in the conference, many women's volleyball games were played as well as all 12 current ACC members were in action.

I had the chance to see two of the games, including UNC's win over Wake Forest on the road (28-30, 29-27, 27-25, 25-22) and Virginia Tech's home win in a highly competitive five-match game over Clemson (25-22, 13-25, 14-25, 25-19, 15-11).

ACC volleyball got my attention late in the season last year when I noticed there was a Turkish player at Florida State. As a Turkish-American, I was aware that volleyball was a popular sport among female athletes in Turkey, but I didn't realize just how many volleyball players from Turkey were playing in the NCAA.

In the ACC, on current rosters, there are eight such players, including Duygu Duzceler and Fatma Yildirim (Florida State), Serenat Yaz and Cansu Ozdemir (Clemson, team image is above), Ece Taner of UNC and Cagla Sen of Boston College.

And, as it turns out Liz Trinchere of Virginia Tech went to my high school in the Roanoke, Va., area.

In weekend action, the UNC Tarheels won a road game over Wake Forest 3-1 (28-30, 29-27, 27-25, 25-22) on Friday as each of the four sets in the match were nail-biters. The 'Heels are now 17-5 (9-2 in ACC play).

And, in Blacksburg, Va., on Sunday, the home-court Virginia Tech Hokies a highly competitive full five-set match over the Clemson Tigers by a score of 3-2 (25-22, 13-25, 14-25, 25-19, 15-11); the Hokies go to 13-9 (6-5 in the ACC) and Clemson now has a record of 14-8 (6-5 in the ACC).

During Friday's game in Winston-Salem, NC, Kaylie Gibson of the 'Heels scored 24 digs and her teammate Emily McGee, a former ACC Player of the Week, had her seventh double-double of the season.

For the home Demon Deacons, Dani Thompson scored 14 digs and Andrea Beck added 14 kills. The game included a breast cancer fund-raiser which raised over $5,600.

During Sunday's game at Virginia Tech, the Hokies won a third straight five-set victory. Three Hokies scored double-doubles, including Cara Baarendse (with 13 kills), Justine Record and Jordan Fish.

For the Tigers, the aforementioned Serenat Yaz was one of three players with double-doubles along with Mo Simmons and Hannah Brenner.

Here is a complete list of ACC scores from Friday to Sunday:

Friday:

Clemson 3 UVA 1
Florida State 3 Maryland 1
Va. Tech 3 Ga. Tech 2
UNC 3 Wake Forest 1
Duke 3 NC St. 0
Miami (Fl) 3 Boston College 1

Saturday:

Ga. Tech 3 UVa 1

Sunday:

Va. Tech 3 Clemson 2
Florida State 3 Boston College 0
Miami (Fl) 3 Maryland 1

Sidebar: On a more serious note, the Turkish-American Washington DC-based group ATAA has set up a relief fund for victims of the earthquake in the eastern city of Van:

Turkish Philantropy Funds
Re: Van Earthquake Relief Fund
216 E. 45th Street, 7th Floor
NY, NY 10017

I expect there will be a segment about the devastation on the NPR talk show "The World," which examines evolving stories from around the globe.

Special Coverage- Devastating Earthquake in Turkey

2011-10-23T17:56:00.001-07:00

As of 8:30 p.m., New York Time (4:30 a.m., Istanbul time), there are 137 confirmed dead as the result of a devastating earthquake in the province of Van which occured at 6:41 a.m., New York time (1:41 p.m., Istanbul time; the same time as Van).

But, the reports from two of Turkey's most-read newspapers "Hurriyet" and "Zaman" are far more devastating as the competing publications are both stating that there could be up to 1,000 dead in the region.

The earthquake registered 7.2 on the Richter Scale, and tens of thousands of residents in the area are homeless. Many are also without water and electricity. The cities of Van and Ercis were among the most affected. The province of Van borders Iran.

"The Huffington Post" reported that the earthquake was felt in both Iran and Armenia. The Van province is an area of ethnic hostility as it is claimed by both Kurds and Armenians around the world, and sadly many Internet posters, Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian alike are already posting comments with highly inappropriate comments regarding ethnic politics as children are being pulled from the rubble.

According to Hurriyet, Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan flew to Van. Earthquake politics have played a significant role in past earthquakes as the late Bulent Ecevit, who served as both president and prime minister of Turkey during his life, suffered major political setbacks for his alleged mishandling of the 1999 earthquake near Istanbul which killed some 20,000 people.

"Zaman" said the earthquake was also felt in the provinces of Batman, Hakkari and Diyarbakir. The BBC has confirmed (as of 9:00 p.m. New York time) that the city of Ercis has suffered the most casulaties so far. The BBC is also reporting that Turkey is so far surprisingly not asking for international aid, which would be a shocking misjudgment in my view.

The BBC is also reporting that at least 80 buildings have collapsed in the Van province. The city of Van, which is a fairly large city though the surrounding area consists of village dwellings, is some 28 hours away from Istanbul by bus.

Hakki Erskoy of the Turkish Red Crescent told the BBC that aid teams have been sent in from throughout Turkey.

"Hurriyet" reported that Israel, which has been having diplomatic squabbles with Turkey, over last year's Blue Marmara Raid Fiasco, was among the countries offering foreign aid.

President Barack Obama said: "We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Turkish ally in this difficult time."

The English language web site for The Turkish Red Crescent is (www.kizilay.org.tr/english).

60 Words or Less- President Obama Comes to NC

2011-10-20T11:39:00.001-07:00

This is our latest effort to try to curb the amount time spent blogging for the sake of something that might actually make me rich and famous.

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama visited Reidsville, NC, while en route to Jamestown (a suburb of Greensboro) and much to my surprise he dined at Reid's House. I have been to that dinning establishment myself, and the last time I was there, I actually thought to myself: "I must be the only one in here who voted for Obama."

Perhaps, now Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann will visit the Internationalist Bookstore in Chapel Hill, NC, which is known for its agressive progressive activism.

SIDEBAR: Alas, our beloved UNC Tarheels fell to arch rival Duke University in straight sets last night in a road game that was televised on ESPN-U. The final score of the match was (25-18, 27-25, 25-22). For the Blue Devils, Sophia Dunworth scored 15 kills while her teammate Amanda Robertson added 11.

Has It Been Three Years Already

2011-10-19T09:03:00.001-07:00

Hopefully, this does not come across as self-congratulatory, but it has indeed been three years since the first entry of "The Daily Vampire."

In this time, I've learned that folks are apparently more interested in pictures of dogs dressed in hot dog buns than quotes from the late, great Russian Nikolai Gogol.

But, somehow, I think I was fully aware of that going in!

Tweet of the Moment_ Singer Moby Talking Film

2011-10-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

Last night, we caught this tweet from a guy calling himself (his words) The Little Idiot. I completely forgot that was the moniker for the techno instrumentalist Moby who happens to have over 1.25 million followers on Facebook!

Here is the tweet, and I am not using proper punctuation as Moby didn't in his tweet:

"i think my life will be perfectly ok without ever seeing human centipede."

This tweet was in reference to the 2009 cult shock horror film "Human Centipede" which involves a very extreme, over-the-top, sick and demented plot. Of course, a sequel came out earlier this year and a third one is on its way.

The film was shown at the Shadowbox Microcinema in Roanoke, Va., which is getting ready for the "Time Warp" as they will screen "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" at 9:00 and 11:59 p.m. on Saturday night.