Happy Oscar Hangover Day

For starters, let me go ahead and congratulate Natalie Portman, Colin Firth, Melissa Leo, Christian Bale and David Fincher (just kidding, we know Tom Hooper won for directing "The King's Speech," but we couldn't resist, especially since most of us Gen-Xers were rooting for Fincher's film "The Social Network") for their Oscar wins last night.

Even if we disagree with the Academy's decisions (Fincher was robbed!), we respect the great work that went into what they did to win each of their respective Oscars.

Of course, for film fanatics, such as myself, there is nothing worse than the day after the Oscars.

I was up until 1:05 eastern time, USA, (also known as New York time), watching the Jimmy Kimmel special with Tom Hanks last night. Kimmel's show featured a hilarious spoof of "The King's Speech" with Mike Tyson (yes, it was really the former boxer himself) was coaching a George W. Bush impersonator who just couldn't help mess up verbally each and every time he came to the podium.

So, I felt like I did as a 19-year-old kid (my age in 1989) who had just drunk way too much raki in Istanbul, Turkey.

For those who don't know much about the alcoholic spirit, we will give a brief cultural and historical synopsis (with help from Wikipedia), especially for those of you in Eugene, Ore.

Since, those of you in that time zone might well still behind a computer as we are typing this (it's now about 6:30 p.m., New York time) and can't wait to go home to your wife, kid and orange goldfish:


"Raki pronounced rakuu is a non-sweet arise-flavored alcoholic drink popularly consumed in Turkey, Greece, Albania, Bosnia and Bulgaria alongside seafood and mezze. Raki is also known as 'the Lion's milk.' It became popular from 1839-1876 during the 'liberal' period of the Ottoman Empire."

So, if you were wondering how a strong alcoholic drink that can knock you out like a punch from Mike Tyson became hip in a Muslim country, there you have it (we changed some of the wording from raki's Wikipedia entry to make it easier to read and more humorous).