10 for 10 (3rd Entry): Love Those Zoo Animals

Greetings to our blog readers in Saudi Arabia, India, and France....

Alas, we are running way, way behind in our efforts to post 10 entries in honor of our 10th anniversary of blogging, which is on Sept. 21st.

Life has been crazy and zany lately, and I promise our good friend Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, that it is not due to watching hours of the '70s English sitcom "Are You Being Served?" on Youtube.

Here is a link to the Denver Zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo and the North Carolina Zoo (in Asheboro, NC, near Greensboro) in case you want to see a giraffe or another zoo animal of your choice in real life.

http://www.denverzoo.org/

http://www.philadelphiazoo.org/

http://www.nczoo.org/

http://www.zoo.com.sg/ (A link to the Singapore Zoo for our world audience)

Silly Image to Fill Space- Apathy

Hmmmmmmm..............

Yeah............

I thought about going back to our quotes from Sunday comic strips, especially since we love "Knight Life" by Keith Knight, which is awesome today as it always is, and, it is funnier than "Hagar the Horrible," but............

I'm just not in the mood.

By the way, Keith Knight is not related to my friend Chris Knight, who has a birthday today.

One is an African-American living in Los Angeles, the other is a white guy living in Reidsville, NC.

If you wanna know who is who or whom is who, well.............

Just Google it (or, maybe Bing it)........................

60 Words or Less- President Obama Comes to NC

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.

Status Update_ Need Some Coffee

Status Update for 1/26: "I could really, really go 4 a double espresso or a vanilla mocha right now!"

For those with similar cravings, I recommend two great small town coffee shops. In Strasburg, Va., some 75 miles south of Washington, DC, there is Cristina's Cafe, where the Northern Virginia blues band Blues Condition will be performing on Saturday night.

In Reidsville, NC, east of Greensboro, there is a nifty place called The Backstreet Buzz, where the indie/folk/rock band Poverty Level from the hamlet of Stuart, Va., in Patrick County in southwest Va., plays on Saturday night as well.

We also found out there is a chain in the Pittsburgh-metro area called Crazy Mocha.

And, apparently, in Islamabad, Pakistan,-of all places, there is a coffee house called Addiction Cafe!

Happy New Year from Tintin

Happy New Year from all of us here at The Daily Vampire and our beloved Belgian comic book reporter Tintin. Though we hate fessing up to mistakes here, we must admit that we wrongly identified Tintin's white fox terrier dog earlier this week. For the record, the mutt's name is Snowy, not Fluffy.

But, since Tintin's creator Herge (1907-1983) we may not get yelled out for making this blunder. Titin debuted in 1929, and it has been translated into 80 languages.

I discovered Tintin back in 1978 when I was eight years old and we were living near Zonguldak, Turkey, and I came across "Tintin Tibet'te" which was a Turkish translation of Herge's 1960 book "Tintin in Tibet, a book that remains a favorite among Titin fans.

While researching this, we found out that The Tintin Shop in London (there are other Tintin stores in Belgium and France) will be closed in May of this year, but it will be replaced by a coffee house called Haddock's, which will pay homage to the Tintin character Captain Archibald Haddock.

The New Zealand '80s New Wave band Thompson Twins ("Hold Me Now") also took their name from Tintin characters.

A museum devoted to Herge was opened up near Brussels, Belgium, in 2009.

SIDEBAR: One can still see photos of deep-fried turkeys, a specialty of my friend and fellow blogger Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, on his blog "The Knight Shift" (http://www.knightshift.blogspot.com).

Today is also the birthday of my friend Devrim Kale in Edirne, Turkey.

And, we wish to congratulate Jocelyn Skye Jimenez of Elizabeth, NJ, Keegan Lee Kinzel of Huntington, WVa, and Roxana Santos of Rockville, Md. Each of these New Year's babies were among the first babies born after midnight in their respective localities today.

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Turkey Fryer House Fire in Kansas

A few years ago around Thanksgiving, my friend and blogger Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, jokingly said he was going to deep fry puppies in a turkey frier. Of course, those of us who know Chris, who once ran for a local school board office with an over-the-top Star Wars-themed campaign ad, knew he was kidding.

That was the first time I had heard about turkey fryers, but apparently they are a major source for potential house fires as a family in Olathe, Kansas, found out last night.

According to a tweet from KCTV-5, a Kansas City tv station, a turkey fryer caused a blaze that did $1,000 in damage. The fire started in the house garage. A caller to 911 reported flames and a short time later local firefighters discovered smoke coming from the garage. No one was hurt by the fire.

The Olathe Fire Department is urging folks to take precaution when using turkey fryers over Thanksgiving.

We must profess that when we usually use the term Turkey, we are referring to my late father's country. But, this leads us to one of today's leading trending topics on Twitter today, which is Eid Mubarak in honor of a Muslim holiday. So, we will say Eid Mubarak to our friends in Istanbul, Karachi, Tashkent, Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo and Boones Mill, Va.----I think those folks in rural Franklin County are really gonna hate our guts now!

Since Nancy Pelosi retained her leadership position among House Democrats over Cong. Heath Schuler of North Carolina (a conservative Democrat), she is also trending well in Washington, DC, according to Twitter.

And, of course, the same can be said for the new royal couple of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Is it just me, or are they becoming even more annoying than the Palin family?!

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Darth Vader Dogs

Since we're on the verge of celebrating Halloween here in les estats unis, I thought I would find a goofy costume and we across this one with a dog dressed like Darth Vader that I'm sure my blogger friend Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, will really enjoy.

Knight reported in July that a man dressed Darth Vader robbed a Chase Bank in Setauket, NY, (Long Island) on July 22. The suspect has yet to be arrested. A customer that the robbery was a prank even though Vader was carrying a firearm.

On the lighter side of life, the Lynchburg Humane Society in Lynchburg, Va., is hosting Meow-O-Ween, aimed at giving special discounts on cats and kittens at their shelter for the weekend of Oct. 29-31. Adult cats will be on sale for $20, while kittens can be adopted for $40.

The shelter also offers dogs (rates for dogs vary, call 434-846-1438 for more info), including Midnight, a 11-month-old black lab terrier/pit bull, Diesel, a male hound dog and Diva, a female Australian cattle dog who is one year and two months old.

Things We Learned on Twitter This PM- Armageddon Still Sucks!

We have no idea if the programmers at F/X decided to rerun the epic mess "Armageddon" (you know the movie with Bruce Willis and Ben Afflect that came out in the late '90s) with the commemoration of the Hiroshima tragedy this week in Japan, but the timing does seem a bit surreal.

On a personal note, I have endured a zany last couple of days which involved two days in which I virtually slept away the whole day, one day in which I was up for 24 hours and then some and an unfortunate accident with scissors (still $%&*# hurts!).

So, while I was not watching "Armageddon" or anything else for matter this afternoon, my good pal Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, was indulging in the film which he himself says 'makes The Black Hole look like 2001.' (He is referencing a Disney science-fiction film with Tony Perkins that came out in 1979 when I was nine years old!).

Knight said he has great admiration for actor Steve Buscemi who is in "Armageddon" since the indie film icon is a volunteer fire-fighter in his spare time.

But, Knight had no use for the rest of the film which he also called 'a dumb popcorn movie.' He added that "Armageddon" was 'not an Oscar-worthy magnum opus.' Whatever that means!

50 Beers Around the World- Carlsberg (Denmark)

We continue our 50 Beers of the World series today with an entry for Carlsberg, a popular beer from Denmark which is found in much of the world, including Canada and The United States though it's not as widely available as some imports, such as the German beer Beck's.

Carlsberg was founded in 1847 by J.C. Jacobsen, and it is based in Copenhagen. The beer, which is very popular in Kazakhstan- of all places (the former Soviet Republic where Borat was from) even has breweries in China. Carlsberg also offers an off-shoot known as Elephant Beer.

SIDEBAR- Though they don't offer Carlsberg, my good friends Dave and Linda at the Backstreet Buzz in Reidsville, NC, now offer beer and wine, including the trendy Sierra Nevada brew from Chico, Calif. The coffeehouse also offers sandwiches, soups, salads and wraps as well as coffee beverages such as the espresso, cafe au lait and macchiato.

SIDEBAR TWO- Not to be confused with the Backstreet Buzz, Backstreets, a popular restaurant in Blacksburg, Va., home of the Virginia Tech Hokies (yes, it does share its name with a Bruce Springsteen song) is celebrating their 25th anniversary. They offer a wide range of appetizers, including fried mushrooms and steamed mussels. Though they are best known for their pizzas, Backstreets also has gourmet dishes such as jambalaya and chicken napoli.

SIDEBAR THREE-Want to see a blog which features virtually nothing except cool drawings? Then log on to www.melikesyou.blogspot.com from the comic zine artist Lauren Barnett, who is based in Brooklyn. I found one of her latest works "I'd Like Some 'Expletive' Pancakes" at Chapel Hill Comics in Chapel Hill, NC.

Quote of the Week- Daniela Hantuchova (Slovak Tennis Star)

Ay Karumba! We royally screwed up the first try with this, so we will keep this one simpler. A tip to other bloggers, try to limit your labels and be sure to save your entries, or else.........?????!!!!!!!!!

So, we turn our attention to Slovak tennis goddess Daniela Hantuchova, born in 1983, as we continue to quote 32 people from the 32 countries in the World Cup.

Slovakia was once a part of Czechoslavakia, but the political split which occured some 20 years ago did not prevent Hantuchova from becoming doubles partners with Czech tennis legend Martina Navratilova.

Hantuchova was among the female tennis players profiled in a 2008 feature in "The Daily Mail" (UK) about young, hot female tennis players from eastern Europe. It was a bit tabloid, but very interesting! Though, I think I found out from some place else that Hantuchova studied classical piano for eight years.

She has also posed for lots and lots of swimsuit photos, and like virtually all gorgeous women in the world with the exception of a few lipstick lesbians, Hantuchova (of course!) has a boyfriend but we don't really care about him!

As for accomplishments on the court, Hantuchova reached the semi-finals of the 2008 Australian Open and she will be the 24th seed at Wimbledon.

Here is her quote:

"I guess the attention paid to appearance is something that belongs to tennis too."

SIDEBAR: If you have time, check out the YouTube video featuring replays of the World Cup soccer game between the United States and England with Leggos! It is on the blog "The Knight Shift" (theknightshift.blogspot.com) which belongs to my friend Chris Knight, of Reidsville, NC.

There were other things we were going to post here, but I want to avoid another disaster in the 'chemical lab!"

Merry Christmas from Gizmo the Family Cat!

The photo here is actually of Bob, a tuxedo cat in South Carolina, but Gizmo looks almost exactly like him! Apparently, Bob is a cat who needs a home, so......

We are using our entries today to focus people's attention on animal adoption. We found Gizmo at a gas station in Ironto, Va., as we were coming back from Virginia Tech in October of 2004. But, many cats and dogs aren't so lucky (Uh oh! I am getting on a soap box!).

We named Gizmo after the title character in "Gremlins," which surprisingly has a very long wait on NetFlix!

We have company from Johnson City, Tenn., so I need to get off the computer and be polite. It's not something I'm always good at unless I'm at Chamber of Commerce mixers.

But, before I do that, I want to mention that the city I live in, Reidsville, NC, near Greensboro, has one of the highest kill rates for its local animal shelter so if you live in the area and you need a pet please don't go to the pet store at Friendly Center in Greensboro (unless you want hamsters! They do have a great selection of hamsters,actually! But, Gizmo would probably eat them).

In all seriousness, the animal shelter in Reidsville can be reached at (336) 342-4022. My friends at the Backstreet Buzz Coffee House in Reidsville have also been helping to get the word out about the animal shelter, and I really appreciate that. I just wish my apartments allowed pets!

Similarly, the animal shelter in my hometown of Salem, Va., (www.salempets.org) can be reached at (540) 375-3038. I also really wish we could get another cat for Gizmo who lives with mom in Roanoke, Va., but she hates taking out the cat litter as it is and I'm not to sure Gizmo, who is perhaps the wildest domestic cat in town, would care for another Garfield!

Special Quote of the Week-Bob Dylan

I suppose since tomorrow is Thanksgiving we should be quoting Arlo Guthrie since he has that famous Turkey Day ballad "Alice's Restaurant," be we have opted to quip Bob Dylan as we are posting several special entries to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hame of Fame's opening in Cleveland.

There is also a lovely $750 painting of Dylan at the Back Street Buzz Coffee House in Reidsville, NC, which would make a perfect gift for your aunt in Ocala, Fla. (I actually have an aunt in another part of Florida, but alas I will not be seeing her for Thanksgiving and Ocala is easier to spell).

Ok...enough of our nonsense, here is the quote. It's a good one!:

"A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom."