10 for 10 (9th entry): A Quote from Jazz Great Herbie Hancock

Greetings to our blog readers in Austria, Dubai, and Singapore....

Tonight, we continue marking our tenth anniversary of blogging with an inspiring quote from noteworthy person.

The Quote of the Week and a series of quotes from people in a given, such as playwrights (Arthur Miller and Neil Simon) or punk rockers (Lou Reed of Iggy Pop) used to be standards on our two blogs, so hence we are quoting jazz great Herbie Hancock ("Watermelon Man," "Rockit") with one of his vintage quotes:

"It's a part of life to have obstacles. It's about overcoming obstacles that's the key to happiness."

SIDEBAR: We want to welcome Pope Francis to the United States, and we hope he enjoyed his time in Washington, DC, today. Somehow, we can't imagine that he will go to the 9:30 Club while he is in the nation's capital.

Movies Plus Movies: Yes, We Stole This Idea from Twitter

Last week, Twitter featured the hashtag MoviePlusMovie. At first, we couldn't think of anything, but since all of us here at the public library in Providence, Rhode Island, (not really the city where we are) are ardent film fanatics, we soon came up with tons of stuff.

While we are posting this, we are listening to WETA-FM (Arlington, Va./Washington, D.C.) which is having a pledge week. Alas, we don't have the funds to call host Bill Bukowski and make a donation so we can hear more Mozart, but perhaps you can! Those of you who aren't into classical music, may know Mozart from the '80s pop song "Rock Me Amadeus" from the late Austrian new wave star Falco.

Our images of are of: 1) a bobblehead Jesus Christ, (perhaps the Rev. Johnny Robertson of Martinsville, Va., will hack our blog for doing this!); 2) Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins and 3) The Toledo Walleye, a minor league hockey team in Toledo, Ohio, which resembles the one Paul Newman played for in "Slap Shot" (1977. Dir: George Roy Hill).

Here are ten MoviePlusMovie samples we came up with:

1) The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ Superstar

2) There's Something About Mary Poppins

3) Slap Shot in the Dark

4) The Maltese Falcon and the Snowman

5) The Magnificent Seven Psychopaths

6) Singin' in the Purple Rain

7) The Best Little Whorehouse in Paris, Texas (our apologies to Wim Wenders)

8) Dead Men Walking Don't Wear Plaid

9) The Man with Two Brains Who Knew Too Much (year, that's two Steve Martin films in a row)

10) A Fish Called Wanda That Saved Pittsburgh

http://www.weta.org/fm

http://www.toledowalleye.com/

http://www.provlib.org/

Last Ten Movies We'Ve Seen: Catching Up with 2014

Greetings to our faithful blog readers in Afghanistan (well, maybe), The Bahamas and Poland.

Here are the last ten films we've seen (well, actually as of last week). We are still trying to catch up on the best films of 2014, some of which are listed in the IMDB as 2013 films.....yes, we are confused as well!

1) Night Moves (top image, film is about eco-terrorism.) 2013. Dir: Kelly Reichhardt

2) Palo Alto (center image, Palo Alto is where Stanford U is located). 2013. Gia Coppola.

3) Inherent Vice. 2014. Paul Thomas Anderson.

4) Post Mortem. Chile. 2010. Pablo Lorrain

5) Tabu. Portugal. 2012. Miguel Gomes

6) Drug War. Hong Kong. Johnnie To.

7) And, Now a Word from Our Sponsor. (bottom image, Ipana, originally an American toothpaste now only found in Turkey!)* 2013. Zack Bernbaum. (w/Parker Posey)

8) Museum Hours. 2012. Austria. Jem Cohen.

9) Lfe of Pi. 2012. Ang Lee.

10) Under the Skin. 2013. Jonathan Glazer (w/ Scarlett Johansson)

#- We learned that from Bill Griffith's comic strip "Zippy the Pinhead"


http://www.imdb.com

http://www.netflix.com

Last Ten Films I've Seen: Mostly Netflix Week

Greetings to our blog readers in Sweden, Brazil and China.

Why do we have images of a map of Italy, the Athens, Ga., indie rock icons REM, and photo of a grizzly bear chasing a salmon in Alaska? They all relate to the last ten films I've seen; it should be pointed out that one of the films "The One I Love" shares its name with a song by REM, hence the reason why we have an image of the band fronted by Michael Stipe that was one of the best during the 1980s.


All of these films, except "The Trip to Italy" and "The One I Love," which were both showing at the local art house cinema, where viewed either through Netflix or Netflix streaming; two of the films, "A Trip to Italy" and "What Maisie Knew" feature English actor Steve Coogan:

1) "Point Blank." France. 2010. Dir: Fred Cavaye (no connection to Lee Marvin film with the same name)

2) The Trip to Italy. 2014. Dir: Michael Winterbottom.

3) "The One I Love" 2014. Dir: Charlie McDowell w/Elisabeth Moss from "Mad Men."

4) Grizzly. 1976. Dir: William Girdler (yes, it is a guilty pleasure film)

5) "Passion" 2012. Dir: Brian De Palma (remake of the French film "Love Crime")

6) Trance. 2013. Dir: Danny Boyle (Films features a very nude Rosario Dawson!)

7) What Maisie Knew. 2012. Dir: Scott McGhee, et al.

8) The King of Thieves. Slovakia (in German). 2004. Dir: Ivan Fila

9) "Paradise: Faith" Austria. 2012. Dir: Ulrich Seidl (first film in a triology)

10) Buddy. Norway. 2003. Dir: Mortem Tyldum

http://www.filmcomment.com

http://www.netflix.com

Quotes from Off the Beat Path (6 of 6): Alice Cooper

Greetings to our blog-readers in Iceland, The Netherlands, Austria, Ukraine, Israel and Turkey.

We hate snakes (well the poisonous ones and pythons), but that's the case with the American '70s glam rock/heavy metal star Alice Cooper, who will be playing at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC, on Oct. 22.

Here is his quote from the singer best known for "School's Out" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy":

"The most joyous times of the year are Christmas mornings and the end of school."


http://www.alicecooper.com

http://www.greesnborocoliseum.com

Futbol Notebook: All Three Istanbul Powerhouses Win in Weekend Domestic Play

Greetings to our blog-readers in Austria, Azerbaijan and Colombia.

Tonight, as Galatasaray prepares to head to Spain for a UEFA battle with Real Madrid, we reflect back on weekend domestic play in the SuperLiga which had some interesting headlines, especially in the Galatasary-Sivasspor match, but no major surprises as all three Istanbul powerhouses and perennial contender Trabzonspor all won their respective games.

We start with Fenerbahce, one of the three Istanbul power teams, had a fairly competitive 2-1 win over Antalyaspor on the road in Antalya, Turkey's largest resort city. For the Yellow Canaries, goals from Pierre Webo (Cameroon) and Moussa Sow (Senegal). The lone goal for the home team also came from an African player as Lamine Diarra (Senegal) scored.

The lone goal in Trabzonspor's 1-0 home win over Eskisehirpsor came from Paulo Henrique (pictured bottom, Brazil) in the 74th minute of play.

One of our favorite teams Bursaspor tied 1-1 at home in Bursa with Kasimpasha, the fourth team from Istanbul in the Superliga, with the home field Crocs' getting a goal from Sebastian Pinto (Chile) while another South American player Ezequiel Scarionne (Argentina) scored for the visitors.

Georges Mandjeek (Cameroon) scored the lone goal  in Kayseri Ericyesspor's 1-0 home win over Ankara G.B.

There were four red cards issued in Galatasaray's home win in Istanbul over Sivasspor, including three from the visitors from Sivas, a city in northeast Turkey. But, the game did see Turkish star Burak Yilmaz (pictured top) kick in his 100th career in the 13th minute of play. We have to thank our good friend Ahmet Bob Turgut for filling us in on that.

The third Istanbul powerhouse Besiktas had a relatively easy home win over Konyaspor 3-1.

Here are the scores:

Besiktas 3 Konyaspor 1

Anatlyaspor 1 Fenerbahce 2

Trabzonspor 1 Eskisehirspor 0

Akhisar 0 Karabuk 1

Gazinantepspor 3 Elazigspor 1

Kayseri Erciyesspor 1 Ankara G.B. 0

Bursaspor 1 Kasimpasha 1 (tie)

Rizespor 0 Kayserispor 2

Galatasaray 2 Sivasspor 1

http://www.turkish-football.com/

http://turkeyfootball.blogspot.com/

http://www.turkishsoccer.com

Futbol Notebook: Two Red Cards for Standard Liege

It is very unusual for three cards to be issued in one game, but yesterday, in Europa League play, M.Carcela-Gonzales and his Standard Liege (a Belgian team) teammate Kanu, a Brazilian national, both got sent off. The winning team Salzburg (Austria) also got a red card; Salzburg won the game 2-1.

By pure chance, another team from Belgium (Genk) played another team from Austria (Rapid Vienna), that game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Here are some of the Europa scores from yesterday (a whopping 24 games were played in total):

Betis (Spain) 1 Guimares (Portugal) 0

Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine) 3 Thun (Swiss) 0

Salzburg (Austria) 2 Standard Liege (Belgium) 1

Freiburg (Germany) 1 Estoril (Portugal) 1 (tie)

Genk (Belgium) 1 Rapid Vienna (Austria) 1 (tie)

PAOK (Greece) 3 M. Haifa (Israel) 2

For more scores, go to our sister blog:

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

Image to Fill Space: A Vintage VW Bug

It is hard to believe, but when I was a child circa 1977, my late father Mehmet Gokbudak, actually drove us from Frankfurt, West Germany, to Istanbul, Turkey. To my recollection, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria were among the countries we drove.

And, of course, we drove through the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia), where we encountered some very hilly roads.
http://www.vwclub.org/

Soccer Week (2 of 8): Americans Abroad

We are going to present you with a list of 11 American soccer players, which is the same number of soccer players on a team. All of the players except Orozco Fiscal who plays for Puebla in the Mexican Premiere League play for European teams.

The player pictured is Aron Johannsson who plays for traditional Dutch power AZ Alkmaar.

Here is the list:

1) Jozy Altidore (Sunderland, English Premiere League)*

2) Tim Howard (goalkeeper, Everton, EPL)

3) Geoff Cameron (Stokes City, EPL)

4) Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna, Austria)

5) Michael Bradley (AS Roma, Italy)

6) Steve Clark (goalkeeper, Honefoss, Norway)

7) Orozco Fiscal (Puebla, Mexico)

8) Aron Johansson (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands)

9) Jermaine Jones (Shalke '04, Germany)

10) Sacha Kljesten (Anderlecht, Belgium)

11) Tony Taylor (Omonia Nicosai, Cyprus)

http://www.goal.com

http://www.yanks-abroad.com

http://www.politcscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com (Sister blog)

*-His name is (yikes!) not spelled correctly on our links....

Presidential Quotes, (7 of 8): Gerald Ford

Greetings to our blog readers in Austria, Finland and Uruguay, where Jose Mujica is president and apparently he is also the poorest president in the world (ok, we asked Google who the president of Uruguay was).

Since these quips from the first and last eight presidents seem to be as popular as late-night vacuum infomercials, we thought we'd arbitrarily throw in a few names to boost our hits: Kate Middleton, Paris Hilton and Edward Snowden*: We don't actually give a fig about any of these people.

Here is our quote from Gerald Ford, who always enjoyed a good round of golf, and helped comic actor Chevy Chase rise to stardom; his presidential library is located in Ann Arbor, Mich.:

"I would hope that understanding and reconciliation are not limited to the 19th hole alone."


http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov

*-This is, in fact, the first time we've mentioned Snowden's name on this blog, though we gather people like Noam Chomsky and Ron Paul admire him.

Coming Attractions- Amadeus in Bethesda

Well, the world did not come to an abrupt end today as the radical evangelical radio station tycoon Harold Camping, who has gone missing, reported but there was a volcanic eruption in Iceland. Perhaps, God is punishing them for Bjork (that is a joke to everyone in Reykjavik!).

And, though we were hoping to start our blog series "Amadeus in Bethesda" about yet another hectic, but very fun-filled trip to Washington, DC, we are going to post it hepfully at some juncture next week instead.

The play "Amadeus," which was the basis for the 1985 Oscar-winning film of the same name that undoubtedly inspired Quentin Tarantino to become a filmmaker (hmmm.....yes, I know my off-beat sense of humor may make as much sense as a "Zippy the Pinhead" comic strip....?! By the way, we love Bill Griffith's work) is now being staged at the Roundhouse Theatre in Bethesda, Md., which is the reason why we are calling the series "Amadeus in Bethesda."

We did not get to see the play, which opened May 11 and runs through June 5, but I have read the play in addition to seeing the film, and if I lived in the Maryland 'burbs, I would like to think I'd go to the play instead of seeing "Bridesmaids" at the multi-plex. Also, by sheer coincidence, we stayed in Vienna, Va., which is named the capital of Austria, Mozart's native land.

Here is a quote from Mozart (1756-1791) who died young, though he did outlive Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison:

"As death, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our existence."

Special Quote of the Day- Gabriel Byrne

We are wrapping our March quotes for famous people, alive or dead, from Ireland with a quip from actor Gabriel Byrne who is not only alive and well at age 60, but he is still getting critical raves for his role as the psychologist Dr. Paul Weston on the HBO series "In Treatment."

Byrne has also been in acclaimed featured films, such as "The Usual Suspects" and "Miller's Crossing."

Here is his quote, hopefully those of you enjoying your lunch hour in Eugene, Oregon, where it is noon now, have time to read this:

"I think there's a bit of the devil in everybody. There's a bit more of a priest in everybody too, but I enjoyed playing the devil more. He was more fun."

SIDEBAR: Yesterday, Turkey beat Austria 2-0 in Euro Cup 2012 qualifier play (hopefully, this will increase our blog hits from Istanbul, my late father's hometown where yesterday's game was played) with goals from Arda Turan (28th minute) and Gokhan Gonul (78th min.).

Turkey still trails Group-A leader Germany and second-place Belgium who defeated Azerbaijan 4-1 yesterday.

The Turkish side will play on the road against Belgium in Tintinland (our nickname for the Flemish country) for a crucial game on June 3.

Turkey suffered a shocking 1-0 upset loss to Azerbaijan in group play back in October in Baku in which Rashad Sadygov scored the only goal of the match.

We certainly wish Turkey the best, and hope they come away from Belgium with a 'buyuk zafer'/big victory.

For all things related to Turkish soccer, you can check out Ahmet Bob Turgut's blog at turkishsoccer.net or his Twittre page which is (twitter.com/turkishsoccer).

Quote of the Week- Gustav Mahler

Wow, a lot has happened since we lost blogged on Wednesday of last week. Our thoughts go out to Cong. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and her family. I will have more on that later. The incident was made all the more disturbing to me because I heard an interview on NPR during a broadcast of "All Things Considered" just last week.

Today, we are focusing on quotes from composers (we will have another quip from another composter tomorrow since we were not able to post a quote last week) which will be our focus throughout January.

We start with the Austrian-Bohemian composer Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). According to Steve Holtier of 'Culturecatch.com,' Mahler was known for transforming the symphony into its more modern form. His famous works include "The Youth's Magic" and "Wunderhorn."

Here is today's quote from Mahler:

"A Symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything."

If you are in the DC area, be sure to check out WETA (90.9 FM), an NPR station which focuses on classical music. Oh, I forgot, it's not 1989. You can listen to them online too!

PSA- Have a Safe Fourth of July

We want to use this weekly Thursday 'PSA' (Public Service Announcement) entry to wish everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July even if they live in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

But, in all seriousness, The American Civils Liberty Union (ACLU) tweeted today that they are advising anyone traveling to see their aunt in Yuma, Ariz., what their rights are should they be stopped by a federal or state law enforcement officer in Arizona which recently passed a new highly controversial anti-immigration bill. Among the fears expressed by Hispanics who live in The United States legally is that they will be stopped and harrassed simply because of their ethnicity. The ACLU has full details about what perspective travelers passing through Arizona should know at their web site http://www.aclu.org

In more fun news, The Durham Bulls are having a Fourth of July homestand in Durham, NC. Tonight, the Bulls play the Louisville Bats, a team they beat 5-4 in 10 innings last night thanks to a bases loaded walk which scored Jose Lobaton. The Bulls will also have four straight nights of fireworks starting with tonight's game, which will be underway in about 20 minutes.

Another minor league team in North Carolina, the Asheville Tourists of Asheville won their game last night with one of their in-state rivals The Kannapolis Intimidators by a 2-1 count thanks to a ninth inning homerun from Orlando Sandoval. The game was played in Asheville.

In World Cup news, a Twitter site devouted to strange news reported that an Austrian man is selling his bejewelled vuvuzela on the Internet for $20,800. And, Austria was not even in the World Cup!

Olympic Athlete Profiles (15 of 25) Gregor Schlierenzauer/men's ski jumping/Austria

When we first started this epic project of Cecil B. Demille proportions, we went through a list of some potentially interesting Winter Olympics athletes.

I was particularly fascinated by Austrian ski jumper Gregor Schlierenzauer both because he was a gold medal favorite and because his last name is VERY hard to spell, but then again so is the surname of Icelandic women's slalom skier Iris Gudmundsdottir!

The Austrian skier nicknamed Schlieri (it should be pointed out that the ski jumping is that of a Polish ski jumper) just turned 20 on January 7th, but he has already son 32 World Cup Victories which only four other ski jumpers have done.

At Vancouver, Schlieri has won two bronze medals (actually, this number is subject to immediate change as he is ski jumping again today) so far. In the Men's K-120, on Saturday, he finished third behind Simon Ammann of Switzerland and veteran Adam Malysz of Poland.

Schlieri broke Finnish ski jumper Jsanne Ahonen's record of 12 World Cup victories, with his 13th win. The Austrian ski jumper also won gold at the world championships in 2007, and he won both team and individual medals at the 2008 world's.

He is deaf in one year, and began ski jumping at the age of 8.

I was really looking forward to watching ski jumping as it is one of my favorite events. But, as those of you who watch the Olympics realize, one can watch one of their least favorite events (for me, it's ice dancing) yet miss their favorite sports entirely!

When we lived in Poland in 1976 (when I was six years old), I watched ski jumping all the time. But, when I asked my mom if I could try ski jumping, I believe she said no in a very adamant way!