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

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

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

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

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

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)

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)

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.