Beers from Around the World (#49) Kingfisher from India

We are concluding our Beers Around the World segments on our two respective blogs today, and we start with Kingfisher Beer, an Indian beer known by its motto: "The King of Good Times."

Kingfisher is indeed India's most popular beer, and according to its web site, it boasts that it is available from Norway to New Zealand.

Kingfisher can also be found widely in America, though I'm not 100 percent certain they serve in The Chefs of India restaurant in Cary, NC, (a Raleigh suburb) even though I've heard it's a great place to dine.

The beer has a 4.8 percent alcoholic content, but for Gen Y Bollywood movie-goer types Kingfisher does have the Kingfisher Blue which has an eight percent alcoholic content. And, the brand also offers the seasonal Kingfisher Red.

This reminds me that it's been a while since I've seen a Bollywood film, though we gather (and we could be wrong about this) that many are being shown at the Glasgow Film Festival currently underway in Glasgow, Scotland. Some Bollywood films have been known to last close to four hours in running time!

North Carolina Turkish Festival This Weekend

As Turkish people, we might be inclined to fight with each other like the shadow puppett characters Karagoz and Hacivat over politics or soccer teams (forgive the ethnic in-jokes), but there are times when we can actually put aside our differences and celebrate a festive occasion.

Hopefully, that will happen this weekend when the fifth annual North Carolina Turkish Festival gets underway in Cary, NC, (a Raleigh suburb).

The event, which is in part organized by my friend Volkan Ozdemir, will be held on Saturday, April 17 from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. and again on Sunday, April 18 from noon until 7 p.m.

The festival will feature folk dancing, a one-man circus, water marbling, a bazaar and Turkish food,including perhaps doner kebab which is 100 times better than a Greek gyro (we couldn't resist even though I personally love our traditional ethnic rivals).

Cinema of the Week- The Galaxy in Cary, NC

While most of the cinemas we focus on in this series will be historic movie theatres like the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va., or the Tower Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah, there will be some which are cool even though they may have built after "Melrose Place" was on the air.

One such place is the Galaxy Cinema in Cary, NC (a suburb of Raleigh), which always showcases at least one Bollywood film since the Raleigh metro area has a fairly large Indian population.

This week, the Galaxy is showing "Gumaam_ The Mystery Hindi" (not an image from the film) along with regular features like Mike Leigh's new film "Happy_Go_Lucky."

The Galaxy is also showing the Swedish horror film "Let the Right One In" as well as "Rachel Getting Married," "W," "The Boy in Stripped Pajamas" and "Nobel Son." My friend Moviezzz has a very interesting story about "Nobel Son" on his blog "Talking Moviezzz" (see our links section).

And, since I am half-Turkish, I should also plug the Harmony Market, which sits in an outdoor shopping mall across the street from the Galaxy. The Harmony Market has a variety of Turkish foods, including feta cheese, yogurt, halva and (mmmm!) apricot juice.

http://wwww.mygalaxycinema.com

Program Reminder......PBS/Tuesday

PBS will be airing a documentary about the late Republican Party operative Lee Atwater called "Boogieman: The Lee Atwater Story." on Tuesday night at 9 p.m. (EST).

The film, which is airing as part of the "Frontline" series, was in theatres, such as The Galaxy Cinema in Cary, NC, about a month ago.

Tonight PBS has an "Antiques Roadshow" from Milwaukee.


http://www.pbs.org

http://www.boogiemanthemovie.com