Quotes from Famous Authors (3 of 5): Mark Twain

"The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between the lightning and the lightning-bug."

If one is in the Hartford, Connecticut, area, we highly recommend visiting the Mark Twain House where Ghost Walk tours are being offered on Friday nights this month in honor of Halloween.

http://www.marktwainhouse.org

Traditional Mother's Day Quote from Joan Crawford

Every year on Mother's Day, we like to quote Joan Crawford. For many years, the Criterion Cinema in New Haven, Conn., screened "Mommie Dearest," a 1981 film about Crawford starring Faye Dunaway on Mother's Day. Yesterday, the Denver Film Society screened the picture with Rutanya Alda, the then-child actress who played Crawford's daughter. Today (Sunday), the family film "The Parent Trap" with Hayley Mills was shown at the Film Forum in New York (Crawford was not in that film).

Here is her quote:

"I, Joan Crawford, believe in the dollar. Everything I earn, I spend."

http://www.filmforum.org

http://www.denverfilmsociety.org

http://www.joancrawfordbest.com

http://www.legendaryjoancrawford.com

Comic Strip Dialogue_ Open Letters

Today, we are going with comic strip dialogue from a newspaper we haven't used before; this one is "The News & Record," the daily newspaper in Greensboro, NC. The strip dialogue used here is from the Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012, edition of the newspaper.

Of course, our sincerest thoughts go out to the family of Jack Pinto, one of the children killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut and the other victims' families, but we feel that with the constrains of the holiday season here in America, it is best to resume 'normal programming."

Here we go:

1) "Dear Editor. How did you manage to get this letter open?" (from "Shoe," yes, it is the reason for the Greek stamp, which we are using to show irony; the managing editor of this blog is a Turkish-American named Tilly Gokbudak, who happens to be me).

2) "How often do you check your email?" (from "Jump Start")

3) "Santa got down that?" (from "Over the Hedge")

4) "Is this your place?" (from "B.C.")

5) "You should go on Broadway or TV or the movies!!" (from "Curtis")

6) "I'm glad you speak his language" (from "Dennis the Menace")

7) "So........what's on the agenda today?" (from "Wizard of Id")


http://www.news-record.com

http://www.shoecomics.com

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

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

Random Ten Contemporary Novels to Read for Summer

Today, we are finally getting to our random ten books to read for summer list, which seems appropriate given that I am in a public library in New Haven, Conn., where we have a heat index of 110 degrees today (I am actually in North Carolina, but it is really that hot up there, and down here as both Raleigh and Charlotte are 'code orange' in terms of heat index today).

We are also including a list of ten random classical novels worth reading on our other blog, and we thought we's include books on each list that were the basis for Tim Burton movies as is the case with "Big Fish" here.

Our apologies in advance to some of my favorite writers like Jay McInerney, Tom Perrotta and Barry Griffith who did not make the cut here.

I will put indicate which books I have actually read with an asterix (*).

Four of the books on this list had films based on them, including Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men" that became an Oscar-winning movie for the Coen Brothers.

Stephen King's "Misery," a book which came from a dream that King had on airplane flight to London has been made into both a play and a film.

"The Shipping News" by E. Annie Proulx is the other film that became a movie, and I was surprised to see it on a reading list of novels to read by King in the back of his book for would-be writers called simply enough "On Writing," which is quite brilliant.

Here is the list:

1. "Tell All" (2010) by Chuck Palahniuk. He is actually my favorite novelist, but I have to read his most current novel.

2. *"Imperial Bedrooms" (2010) by Bret Easton Ellis. This sequel to "Less Than Zero" is yet another quirky, witty book from Ellis who was a published writer by the time he was 25!

3. "Libra" by Don DeLillo (1988). This controversial novel about the John F. Kennedy assasination seems like it would be quite a unique read. It was criticized by many people, including conservative pundit George F. Will, who also thinks global warming is somehow not happening?!

4. *"The Big Fish" (1988) by Daniel Wallace. When I heard that novelist Daniel Foster Wallce had committed suicide a few years ago, I thought they were referring to this Daniel Wallace who is very much alive and teaching writing at The University of North Carolina. This is a nice feel-good story which can actually be read in one reading.

5. "The Museum of Innocence" (2008) by Orhan Pamuk-Amazingly enough, I have yet to read the latest offering from Turkey's most acclaimed novelist.

6. "Misery" by Stephen King (1987) by Stephen King. At 325 pages, this King novel will make for a quicker read than the new unedited version of "The Stand" which has cracked the best-seller list.

7. *("No Country for Old Men" (2005) by Cormac McCarthy. Along with "Trainspotting" by Irvine Welsh, this is an example where both the book and the film work well together.

8. * "Super Sad True Love Story" (2010) by Gary Shteyngart- The author made my long names list. This novel proved that his prior novel "Absurdistan" was no fluke.

9. "I Am Charlotte Simmons" (2004) by Tom Wolfe. This novel, which is set in the fictional DuPont University that is partly based on Duke University, is about the sexual practices of college students. Amazingly enough, Karen Owen, the infamous sex columnist who outed many, many BlueDevils she made love to, including at least one lacrosse player, may have proven the story to be unsettling true.

10. "The Shipping News" by E. Annie Proulx_ As we said earlier, Stephen King recommended this prize-winning novel, so it must be good!

Road Trip USA (10 of 10)_ Tuscaloosa to Champaign

Well, hopefully, the images below of University of Alabama gymnast Kayla Hoffman and University of Illinois gymnast Melissa Fernandez, both of whom recently graduated from their respective schools (we presume) will hold up. The image we had of Borat at a rodeo in Salem, Va., my hometown, alas ran into technical difficulties.

Hoffman was named SEC Female Athlete of the year. Along with her teammates Geralen Stack-Eaton and Ashley Priess, she help the Crimson Tide win yet another NCAA title in women's gymnastics.

Fernandez was named the female athelete of the year for the University of Illinois; her counterpart for male athlete of the year for the school was NCAA track champion Andrew Riley.

Today, we are going to focus on the distance between Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Champaign, Illinois, where these two school are located.

For this, we chose two random places in both towns. For Tuscaloosa, we went with the Handstooth Sports Bar, which states on its web site that "Sports Illustrated" named it as the best sports bar in the country.

For Champaign, we are going with The Art Theatre, a cinema downtown that is now showing "Tree of Life" and the killer-tire movie "Rubber." (Having seen them both, I would definitely recommend "Tree of Life," but I think that is an obvious choice).

The school's also have two happening college radio stations. WVUA (90.7-FM/Tuscaloosa) is featuring the local band Calooh Callay in their spotlight. As we were working on this blog entry at 5:30 p.m., Connecticut time, DJ Natalie Wontorczyk was presumably playing a band like Arcade Fire for WPGU (107.1-FM/Champaign-Urbana).

So, is the distance between these two college towns:

A) 9 hours 15 minutes

B) 9 hours 45 minutes

C) 10 hrs 15 mins

D) 10 hrs 45 mins

For bonus points, you can guess which one of these two schools is the alma mater for my cousin Kurt Gokbudak (it's the one in the Big 10, which now has 12 schools?!).

SIDEBAR: We gave up on getting out of her on time about an hour and a half ago, but before we leave the office here in Bridgeport, Conn. (not really where I am at), I thought I would mention Crested Butte, Colo. A relative of mine went there last week for the annual Wild Flowers Festival that ended yesterday. But, one can still visit western Colorado and see wild flowers, such as the elephant flowers, columbine, blue flax flowers and Canadian thistle flowers. Alas, according to MapQuest, Crested Butte is a 31-hour-drive from where I am at the moment, and the commute would probably even more arduous if it started in Bridgeport, Conn.

PS: In the Whoops Department, this entry was meant for our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time." But, as it is, we will be 'taking a day off' here to go hiking in Zion National Park (yes, that is a joke!) The Borat image we mentioned was supposed to go with an entry on that blog about Kazakhstan.

Quote of the Moment- Jay McInerney

Today, we continue our series of quotes from famous people from New England with a quip by Jay McInerney (b.1955, Hartford, Conn.) who is best-known for his break-through novel "Bright Ligths, Big City," a contemporary literary classic which was published when he was only 29 years old in 1984. The film became the basis for a Michael J. Fox movie of the same name is 1988, which wasn't successful partly because Fox was miscast as Robert Redford has been for the 1974 film version of "The Great Gatsby."

Other McInerney novels include "The Story of My Life" (1988) and "The Good Life"
(2006). "The Story of Life" is noteable because it features the character of Alison Poole, who is based on Rielle Hunter, the John Edwards mistress who once dated McInerney.

McInerney is also a contemporary of fellow novelist Bret Easton Ellis ("Less Than Zero," "American Psycho") and Tama Janowitz ("Slaves of New York"), who happens to be an alumnus of Hollins University, which is one of my two collegiate alma maters.

While researching this, we learned that McInerney is now on his fourth marriage, and he is a wine columnist for "The Wall Street Journal," which is having a very bad week due to Rupert Murdoch phone-hacking scandal.

Here is the quote from McInerney; we imagine it is in reference to "The Good Life" which is about the effects of 9/11 on America, ironically the Twin Towers were on the cover of "Bright Ligths, Big City":

"I've always written about the larger social events of the moment. It just seemed like I had to confront this one."

Special Quote of the Week- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Today's quote comes from former Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who is now 64:

"I can do something else besides stuff a ball through a hoop. My biggest resource is my mind."

SIDEBAR_ This past weekend, I was actually on the NPR show "Studio 360." The show asked listeners to submit what they would want to be the first line of their obituaries.

The reason for this was their guest novelist Timothy Schaffert's new work of fiction is told from the perspective of an old woman who types obituaries for a small-town Nebraska newspaper, perhaps like "The North Platte Telegraph" in North Platte, Neb.

The first line of what I would my obit to say, as submitted to "Studio 360," was: "His dad died on his thirteenth birthday on March 4, 1983, but Tilly Gokbudak somehow managed to live a happy and productive life."

But, my personal favorite submission came from a fellow listener in Connecticut who said: "Rodger has spent his whole life working toward this moment."

Special Quote of the Week- Mark Twain

Wow, even Newt Gingrich is quoting Mark Twain (1835-1910) these days, well at least according to Google, but we don't think he'll be using the quip we will posting down below.

The author best known for novels like "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer" will be featured on a commemorative American postage stamp in June; the first one will be post-marked in (where else?!) Hannibal, Missouri. There is also a Mark Twain House in Hartford, Conn., which I was fortunate enough to visit as we headed north to Maine a few years ago. One of the museum's many highlights is a sketch that animator Chuck Jones ("Bugs Bunny") made regarding Twain.

Late last year, "The Autobiography of Mark Twain" also came out, and it has been selling well. I have not read the book, but I did read his novel "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" fairly recently. And, luckily I did not have to write a book report on it!

When we get a proper chance, we will be sure to make fun of Gingrich and Donald Trump, but today well we are slightly overwhelmed! But, I would love to see a Republican candidate shaking hands in places like Sioux City, Iowa, or Rock Hill, SC, and making lofty promises that they themselves know could never ever happen. I guess that's what C-Span is for.

Here is the quote from Twain:

"A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar."

Weekend Road Trip- Connecticut to Colorado (5 of 20)

Today, we continue our time-consuming series on road trips across les etats unis (French for USA) by looking at the time it would take one to get from New Haven, Conn., 06510 to Colorado Spring, Colo. 80903. As one might expect, it is a long drive.

We chose these two zip codes because both Yale University in New Haven and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs have outstanding men's hockey programs (we know Yale has a women's hockey program too, alas we didn't get to see if that sport was offered at AFU).

Yale actually defeated Air Force in a NCAA tournament game that went to overtime. But, the Bulldogs fell in the final eight. Tonight, Minn-Duluth and Notre Dame face off in the Frozen Four, followed by the University of North Dakota's game with Michigan. The event is taking place today in St. Paul, Minn.

Both schools also have women's gymnastics teams, a sport that I am a huge fan of. We found out that for the Bulldogs' gym team, captain Sherry Yang from Maryland had a 9.3 on vault at a meet at Towson University in here home state on March 11. The team also has two (we presume twin) sisters from Singapoer in Nicole and Tabitha Tay, both of whom are freshman.

As for the Falcons' women's gym team, senior Brittany Dutton, a 5-1 gymnast from Georgia, has been among the stand-out gymnasts as she competed in NCAA regionals in Denver. Her teammate Linnaea Hance has a pet cornsnake! And, her fellow Falcon Jen Larsen likes "Scooby Doo," a cartoon which is a year older than me (we believe in debuted in 1969).

As for the hockey teams, Jimmy Martin, a senior from St. Louis who was captain for the Bulldogs had an outstanding year as did Falcons' stand-out Jacques Lamoureux from North Dakota who amazingly enough cites the Edmonton Oilers as his favorite team (a member of the U.S. military roots for a Canadian hockey team!).

We found out the mileage by checking out the distance from Ibiza Restaurant in New Haven, a Spanish diner that offers chipirones, baby squid braised on its own ink, and Jack Quinn's Irish Ale House and Pub in Colorado Springs which offers Irish strout beef crostini.

We concluded that the distance was:

A) 26 hours

B) 28 hours

C) 30 hours

D) 32 hours

The answer to last week's question was A). Durham, NH, and Norman, Okl., would amount to a 28 hour drive presuming one does not stop at a Burger King in Kentucky along the way.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Celeb Couples

None of us like to publicly profess it, but let's face it_ we all love celebrity couples. They seem to have it all don't they? Good looks. Good fashion. Great talent. Good lawyers.

Today, we focus on celeb couple numero uno Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Yes, we wonder how they can stand each other even though of a lot of people (not us, of course!) can't stand them.

Tom is best known for blockbuster films from "Risky Business" to "A Few Good Men." While, Katie is an alum of "Dawson's Creek" who has made some cute films here and there, but none of us here at the office in Bridgeport, Conn. (not where we really are) can't remember a single title of any of them!

SIDEBAR: This week's semi-official High School of the Week is Brandywine High School in Wilmington, Del., a state which is seeing a surprisingly interesting U.S. Senate race between Christine "I'm Not a Witch" O'Donnell, who seems to be the Katie Holmes of the Tea Party movement, and Chris Coons. According to "The Christian Science Monitor," Coons is substantially ahead (editorial comment: YAY!).

As for Brandywine HS, the school's famous alum includes none other than rocker George Thorogood who is best known for the song "Bad to the Bone," which seems to be our pet cat's theme song these days.

My own alma mater Glenvar High School from Salem, Va., lost a home game to Giles County High School by a 20-17 score last week. But, the UNC Tarheels beat Clemson so I get to jeer my cousin Mike, a rabid Clemson fan, even though I only root for the Tarheels when they are winning!

SIDEBAR TWO: We have now passed 150,000 hits...hooray!

Top Ten Most Controversial Books of All Times

I must profess that the Top 10 Most Controversial Books of all time list that I found on 712educators.com actually cited "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" as the most controversial book on American library shelves, but I thought this image of Huckleberry Hound, the '60s cartoon that one can watch on Boomerang, would be more hip.

The idea, of course, stems from the proposed Koran book-burning crusade that the radical Rev. Terry Jones considered carrying out until virtually the last minute. He supposedly got a sign from God, or his doctor gave him a perscription to Prozac.

Alas, arch conservative Virginia governor Bob McDonnell (R), who is perhaps just 'slightly to the left' of Rev. Jones, will probably go through with the execution of a mentally ill woman from Pittsylvania County (near Danville) on Sept. 23. Perhaps, he will get a sign from God too.


"Huck Finn: was, of course, written by the great American writer Mark Twain. On Sept. 24, The Mark Twain House, which is in Hartford, Conn., (this surprises from Europeans since much of Twain's novels take place around his native Missouri), will be hosting a lecture from ghost-investigating legend Lorraine Warren. Yes, I know the "Ghostbusters" theme is probably going through your mind right now too!

It should be mentioned that the frequent use of the 'n' word is the prime reason for concerns about Twain's novel even though it illustrated the evils of slavery.

Here is the complete Top Ten List of controversial books:

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

2. The Cathcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

3. To Kill a Mockinghbird by Harper Lee

4. Bridge to Terabithia by Katerine Paterson (this was a surprise!)

5. Lord of the Flies by William Golding

6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

7. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

8. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

9. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

10. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Program Reminder- Hostel 2 on IFC This Week

For those of you who may be either sick and demented people or normal people interested in sick and demented films, there is good news for you!

IFC will be airing the 2007 shock horror/torture porn film "Hostel 2," helmed by Eli Roth, the director of the original "Hostel."

The basic plot line is that three American college girls study art in Rome and they are drawn into the world of suffering and torture.

The films airs at midnight.

Have your microwave popcorn handy!

On Fridays, IFC is also airing reruns of the wonderful 1999 series "Freaks and Geeks" about high school life around 1980 which featured a very young Seth Rogen and James Franco, among many other future stars in its cast. I just watched an episode, which reairs Sunday night at 10:00 pm tonight, and it was great. The show only lasted 18 episodes. I was among those who missed out on it the first time around.

And, this is a good moment to segue-way to our upteenth High School of the Week, which is........Hamden High School from Hamden, Conn., where the school motto is 'to everyone there openth a way.' The school mascot is The Green Dragon?! And, the school's principal is Gary Highsmith.

Of course, every student there is too young to watch "Hostel 2," but alas most of them have probably seen it five or six times anyway!

PSA-Stop Racism

For today's PSA entry, we go with a slogan repeated throughout the recent World Cup in South Africa: Stop Racism.

There is a brilliant column in the current issue of the progressive American magazine "The Nation," (not to be confused with the right-wing Pakistani publication of the same name) which states that one of the reasons why the American right, particularly the likes of Glenn Beck, can't stand soccer is that is the one true world game.

There also appears to be an international Stop Racism Day on March 21 of each year.

As for this image, we are using it because Kermit the Frog's children's song "It's Not Easy Being Green" dealt with racism. We found out while researching this piece that the world's most famous Muppet reptile made his debut way back in 1955 (?!) for a children's tv show in San Francisco.

SIDEBAR: Some of the interesting things we learned on Twitter today include the following: 1) There is actually a Twitter group telling Muslim residents of Bursa, Turkey, when prayer time is, 2) Domestically, The Goat Show gets underway at the Reno County Fair in South Hutchinson, Kan., tonight. The regular Kansas State Fair will be from Sept. 10-19, 3) A very, very depressed man apparently jumped 20 stories out of an office window to his death in Hartford, Conn., this week. And, I thought I had a rough week!