Top 10 List- Favorite Celebrities to Follow on Twitter

Oooops! In our last entry, we forgot to mention our "High School of the Week," which is Eastside High School in Gainesville, Fla. For those of you residing in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, this town is also where the University of Florida Gators play football (and other sports!). On Aug. 14, Eastside High School, where Jeff Charbonnet is the principal, will hold a Stop the Violence rally.

Now for our main subject manner which is my top ten favorite celebrities to follow on Twitter. Those of you who are fans of the singer Julian Casablancas will be disappointed to learn that he finished 11th!

Here is our list:

1) "Zippy the Pinhead" (pictured here): Yes, Zippy the Pinhead is a comic strip character who is the brainchild of Bill Griffith, but he is so much fun to follow on Twitter! Most of the tweets from Zippy/Griffith are actually quotes from back strips including this one from today: "In 1993, Nancy Sinatra will lead a bloodless coup on Guam."

2) Sarah Silverman: Well, we honestly can't post many of her tweets here because they could get one stoned to death in Qom, Iran, but today the standup comedian/actress said that: "I try not to be as hard on myself as I am on other people." She's great, isn't she!

3) Rainn Wilson- The star of "The Office" always posts great Tweets including an entry on Friday in which he said that: "Today should be Val Kilmer Day."

4) Amanda Palmer- The lead singer of The Dresden Dolls is just slightly less irreverent than Sarah Silverman which always makes for an unpredictable guess as to what she'll tweet next?!

5) MoRocca- We're not exactly sure exactly what MoRocca does or how he became a celebrity except that he's on NPR about as much as Big Bird is on PBS. The always funny Mo said that he was hanging out in Bogota with Miss Colombia. Earlier, he tweeted that he watched "Alf" in Spanish in his hotel room.

6) Paris Hilton- An actual recent tweet: "Going to bed. Sweet dreams everyone." Yes, she is not known for intellectual commentary but the heiress has 2.3 million followers on Twitter, and she is on occasion quite amusing.

7) Pee Wee Herman- He may actually be even more of a narcissist than Sarah Palin, but we love the '80s tv star who tweeted this weekend that he was going to reinact his 'Tequila' dance at the huge bikers' rally in Sturgis, South Dakota!

8) Kim Kardashian- see Paris Hilton

9) Kevin Smith- The director of "Clerks" is always fun to read on Twitter. Recently, he mentioned "Mallrats," so perhaps like those of us who couldn't get a date in high school (incidentally, Smith and I were both born in 1970) perhaps he can't 'move on.'

10) Apolo Ohno: This Winter Olympic speed-skating sensation spent the day helping needy children in Seattle, which should make all of us who slept 'til noon today feel even guiltier than normal!

GeoQuiz- When in Rome.......

Today's GeoQuiz entry focuses on Rome. We were initially going to ask how many Starbucsk there were in the ancient capital, but as it turns out, there are no Starbucks in Italy?!

So, instead, we will ask which year Rome hosted the Summer Olympics. We will give you one hint, it was after the film "Open City" (pictured here) was made, which was in the 1940s.

Was the year?:

A) 1992
B) 1956
C) 1960
D) 1952

The answer to last week's GeoQuiz was "B."

SIDEBAR: The Irish supergroup U-2 will be performing in Istanbul, Turkey, one of our favorite cities in the world, on Sept. 6. Road trip, anyone? (Well, it would be a long flight from Greensboro, wouldn't it?!)

PSA- Love Thy Neighbor

Today, we choose a timely PSA as the highly controversial new anti-immigration measures take place in Arizona. Like many on the center-left, I am opposed to the new laws on the grounds that they are both unconstitutional and will lead to needless racial profiling of all Hispanics, even those who are legal citizens.

I do differ with those who are more progressive than me that everyone who supports the measure is racist. While there are certainly eggheads who hold out signs like "Go Back to Mexico," I know there are rational folks who are legitimately concerned about illegal immigration. But, in my view, this proposed 'resolution' will only cause more problems.

The issue has been the focus of journals from the right (The National Review) and the left (The Nation) as well as nonpartisan publications like The Hill as well as international media outlets, such as the BBC and perhaps even the TRT (Turkish Radio and Television). Turkey, which is my late father's country, has had immigration issues of their own mainly over spillover from political crisises in Iraq and Iran.


SIDEBAR: My friend Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, tweeted yesterday that Friday will be "Speak like Arnold Day" as in speak like the California governor/ "Terminator" franchise star. I guess on that note, we'll have to leave you today with: "I'll be baaack."

Quote of the Week- Thierry Henry

We must profess that we were completely unsure of which French person to quip in our last entry for July in this series. Initially, we thought about the iconic writer Victor Hugo since he was quoted by Sam Donaldson on "This Week" last week (we couldn't resist!).

But, after seeing the brilliant new French film "The Micmacs*," we decided to go with French soccer star Thierry Henry (you'll have to see the film to understand why!) who also recently signed with the New York Red Bulls.

"I always think about what I missed, and I think that was my driving force- never be satisfied with what I've done."

*-from the director of "Amelie"

Things We Learned on Twitter Last Night- Dog Rescue in Northern Canada

We learned on Twitter last night through a tweet from "The Vancouver Sun" that an animal protection group rescued some 36 dogs from being executed in nothern Quebec this week.

The dogs include Buddy, a black lab breed, and Rosco, a Duck Tolling Retriever mix. The animals were going to be shot by local native Inuits (Eskimos), but they were saved by the Canadian project manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

The dogs were later sent to shelters in Ontario and New York state.

The defenders of the planned dog shoot said the animals were a danger to local residents, especially school children, in the secluded area of Canada where there is no SPCA.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Working @ the Fast Food Joint...

Personally, I've had some lousy jobs over the years (though I'm quite content with my current employer) but I have never had the misfortune to work FAST FOOD.

A friend of mine who worked at an Arby's in Durham, NC, maintains that this is one of the very worst line of work a person can be in.

Today, we once again feature Winston-Salem, NC, as our feature city for this series within a series pertaining to summer jobs this month. (We have run the Silly Photo/Picture to Fill Space series on Tuesdays for quite a while now).

In Camel City, there are many places where one can possibly find such employment opportunities in this field including The Bear Rock Cafe on South Stratford Road, The Boston Market on Jonestown Road (not named after the Rev. Jim Jones- we presume) and the Dairy Queen on Silas Creek Parkway.

While all of these are national or regional chains, there appears to be at least one local establishment in town called Jimmy the Greek's Kitchen near Wake Forest University on University Parkway, which is not to be confused with the more upscale Jimmy the Greek's Taverna in Boca Raton, Fla.

SIDEBAR: The Winston-Salem Dash were winners last night in Kinston, NC, over their in-state Carolina League rivals the Kinston Indians by a 7-2 margin. The other local Triad team, the Greensboro Grasshoppers also won their game over the visiting Charleston (SC) Seadogs (or is spelled SeaDawgs?!) 7-6 though the 'Hoppers aren't quite as lucky at the moment as their day game this p.m. is being held up by the rain.

SIDEBAR TWO: Another local favorite, the band Holy Ghost Tent Revival (based in Greensboro) is fresh off Floyd Festival in nearby Floyd, Va., and this weekend they will be playing at Callaghan's Irish Social Club on Saturday in Mobile, Alabama, at 7:00 p.m. I imagine my friend Jordan Green, a reporter at "Yes Weekly" has seen them perform many times (I haven't as of yet!).

Quote of the Week- Chuck Palahniuk

Today's quote actually comes from Chuck Palahniuk's novel "Lullaby." He is also known for his famous novels "Fight Club" and "Choke," both of which were made into films.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can hurt like hell."