Potluck Quote of the Day (9 of 10): Dorothy Parker

It has been three full days since Dorothy Parker (1895-1967) would have celebrated her 123rd birthday, and we were planning to quote her before the anniversary. We gather Zeynep Akili of Istanbul, Turkey is a huge fan of her work (this is an in-joke, Zeynep Akili is not a real person)

One can probably find her books in places like The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC, which is hosting humorist/author Dave Barry on Sept. 7th, Malaprop's Bookstore (note to self: don't forget the apostrophe) in Asheville, NC, or The Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colo.

Parker was also the focus of a recent article in "Mental Floss" magazine.

Here is her quote, on love:

"Now I know the things I know and I do; and if you do not like me so, to hell, my love, with you!"

http://www.mentalfloss.com

http://www.malaprops.com/

http://www.regulatorbookshop.com/

http://www.boulderbookstore.net/

Colorado Republican Debate Tweets: The World According to Ben Carson (3 of 3)

Yes, we thought it would be fittingly ironic to have Martin Sheen, one of Hollywood's leading liberal activists who also played a fictional American president on "The West Wing," for this entry on the CNBC Republican Debate from Boulder, Colorado, tonight.

These tweets are mostly from partisans on both sides of the political spectrum, one of these tweets contains mature language:

1) The Daily Edge: Ben Carson: "I will eliminate regulations on small business, but dramatically increase them on your wife's uterus."

2) Dean Obeidallah: " 'Please someone on stage tell me how I'm losing to Ben Carson.' The thought of every candidate on stage."

3) Elaina Pott (conservative): "Please recall that at the last debate I wondered if Ted Cruz had disappeared from stage, ripping tequila shots. I have been vindicated."

4) Alexis Levinson (conservative): Oh hey look, Rand Paul is still here.

5) David Corn (liberal): Rand Paul: 'People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern.' Whoa, we certainly don't want that!

6) Dana Libelson (liberal): Love how candidates use wives as stand-ins for people who don't understand money.

7) Bret Baier (Fox News, we assume he's conservative): "The Marco Rubio pushback to Jeb Bush and to the media narrative on his votes plus the Cruz media rant probably the leading moments so far."

8) Suzy Khimm (liberal): "Cruz bemoans the plight of single mothers and poor women but doesn't offer a solution other than BIG GOVERNMENT BAD."

9) Cyclone Volleyball (Iowa State, SPOILER ALERT): Kansas defeats Iowa State 3-1 (20-25, 28-26, 25-15, 25-20....(the game was played in Ames, Iowa, as the debate was occurring).

GOP Boulder Blogathon...........Round One (of 3): Where the Buffaloes Roam

Tonight at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colo., one of our favorite places in America, the Republicans went at each other live on CNBC. The debate went up against Game Two of the World Series and American Pickers on History. But, even though we are not in Boulder and we didn't even watch the debate on tv, we did follow it closely on Twitter.

Left. Right. Center. Non-Partisan. Here are seven tweets about the debate and one about a college volleyball game as well as one about the weather forecast for Raleigh, NC:

1) Hillary Clinton: In the past two debates, no one said a word about equal pay. Maybe the third time's the charm.

2) Peter Sagal (NPR program host): These guys on CNBC are talking unaware that America is screaming at the them to shut up. They're living a nightmare.

3) Tom Tomorrow (liberal cartoonist): Most of the political cartoonists I know would have more interesting things than these chuckleheads.

4) Josh Kraushaar (National Journal): Rubio shakes Trump's hand, Jeb doesn't shake Rubio's hand.

5) Texas Volleyball: Early in the second set, TCU takes a 7-3 lead.

6) Chris Hohmann (TV weather person in Raleigh): Showers with heavy rain are moving into the Triangle and the Sandhills.

7) Patton Oswalt: Hey CNBC anchors, they're bringing the candidates out. CUT TO THEM. enough of your Fraggle Rock yapping.

8) Joan Walsh (The Nation): This commentary is stunningly conservative.

9) David S. Bernstein (Boston politico): Mork and Mindy was set in Boulder. CNBC could be showing some clips from it rather than this painfully bad routine.

http://www.colorado.edu

http://www.visitbouldercoloradousa.com

Top Ten Sunday Comics from Gocomics.com: Making Fun of Donald Trump and Darth Vader

Greetings to our friends in Boulder, Colorado, and their sister city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan....

Tonight, we bring you our favorite Sunday comics from gocomics.com, a syndication which features many big titles, including "Garfield," "Dilbert," "Pearls Before Swine," "Get Fuzzy" and "Marmaduke," yeah, that is probably not their most cutting edge comic strip.

This week, "Doonesbury" once again lampooned the ridiculousness of  the Donald Trump presidential candidacy by calling the Donald "Mister Clown." Though I've never met Garry Trudeau, I wonder if he also thinks Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian (w are not sure where they stand politically) would have also qualified for tomorrow night's Republican debate from Cleveland, Ohio.

Two of the comic strips in our survey, "Brewster Rockit" and "La Cucaracha" made fun of Darth Vader. In "Brewster," Darth laments his intergalactic battlefield losses while in the Hispanic-character strip, Vader zips by in a cool car as if he is Danica Patrick.

"F-Minus" featured a creative recycling gag while "Flying McCoys" depicted pigeons flying with Superman to take advantage of mass transit, which is why we have an image of the late Turkish actor Tayfun Demir (center) who played the Man of Steel in a yesteryear rip-off of the D.C. Comics franchise.

Meanwhile our "Heart of the City," our top pick of the week featured a satire of the famous "Psycho" shower scene, this one featured a child instead of Norman Bates.

Here is our top ten:

*-strips in the Washington Post


1. Heart of the City

2. F-Minus

*3. Doonesbury

4. Flying McCoys

5. La Cucaracha

*6. Lio

*7. Brewster Rockit: Space Guy"

* 8.WuMo

9. Close to Home

10. Ziggy

http://www.gocomics.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com

http://www.doonesbury.com

Comic Strips Survey from Sunday Roanoke Times (Oct. 19th edition)

Greetings to our blog readers in Australia, Uganda and Finland; and to our domestic friends in New Jersey, Utah, and Florida.

This week, we resume our look at our favorite comic strips from the Sunday, Oct. 19th edition of "The Roanoke Times," for our favorite strips from last week, visit our sister blog at http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

Our favorite comic strip of the week was "Pearls Before Swine," by Stephan Pastis which did a brilliant take on the Abbott and Costello (top image) skit "Who's on First," but in this satire, Rat asks Goat "Which band did Keith Moon play for?"; the answer is The Who, and all the shenanigans roll from there.

"Dilbert," which has substantially jumped in our rankings in recent weeks, features an office visit from a robot (center image) who actually doesn't speak in Scott Adams' strip, which finishes second in our survey this week.

The bronze medal goes to East German ice skater Katarina Witt (we were just trying to see if you were paying attention). Actually, the third place finisher is Dave Coverly's "Speed Bump," a single long panel strip that has some Tennessee raccoons (actually, we have no idea what they are from) digging up trash through backyard garbage cans as well as community recyclable bins that one might find in a hip college town like Boulder, Colorado.

Here is our top ten:

1) Pearls Before Swine

2) Dilbert

3) Speed Bump

4) Get Fuzzy

5) Non-Sequitir

6) Zits

7) Agnes

8) Doonesbury

9) Garfield

10) Jump Start

http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine

http://www.dilbert.com/

http://www.gocomics.com/speedbump

http://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy

http://www.boulderweekly.com/

Quote of the Day: Famous Authors (1 of 5)

Alas, we did not get around to quoting authors of banned books during Banned Books Week last week. We know that Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., and other book stores, such as Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, NC, and the Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colo., probably took part as well.

There is also little doubt in our mind that many libraries and book shops banned D.H. Lawrence's erotic literary masterpiece "Young Lady's Chatterly," which has the distinction of being made into a cheesy sexplotation film that aired on late night cable in the 1980s and a highly respected French art film made just a few years ago.

Here is a quote from D.H. Lawrence:

"Never trust the artist. Trust the tale."

http://www.politics-prose.com/

http://www.malaprops.com/

http://boulderbookstore.indiebound.com/

SIDEBAR: This week, we are also referencing new slang word we have learned from the web site for The Urban Dictionary; they will not teach you these words in an ESL class at Guilford Tech Community College in Greensboro, NC (nudge, nudge, wink, wink):

'Walks on both sides of the street,' this is how someone in a rural hamlet like Welch, WV, will refer to a person who is bisexual; conversely, we presume it's risky to be a bisexual in West Virginia!

http://www.gtcc.edu/

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

http://visitwv.com/

Top 10 Comics of the Sunday Roanoke Times: Doonsebury is Flying High

Greetings to our blog-readers in Canada, Canada and Canada..........and, Kazakhstan!

It may actually be warmer in Toronto or Alma-Ata right now, as it freezing across the state of Virginia today. But, that gave a chance to read an unholy number of comic strips, including ones in our local paper "The Roanoke Times."

Ironically, we are using the image of Lucy from "Peanuts" for "Speed Bump." the single panel comic strip by Dave Coverly which features a skunk talking to a psychiatrist or psychologist, which is a common gag in many comic strips, including "Candorville" by Darrin Bell, which is not in "The Roanoke Times."

The middle image of a pilates exercise is in reference to today's Stephan Pastis strip "Pearls Before Swine," in which rat finds out there is a hidden fee for the work-out room. Of course, this gives us a chance to plug our sponsors Fusion Pilates in Asheville, NC (just kidding, we don't know any pilates instructors in Asheville).

But, the cream of the crop (ok, pun intended), is a marijuana-themed episode of "Doonesbury," in which Garry Trudeau lampoons the legalization of marijuana in Colorado (which is the reason for the top image of the '70s kids tv show "H.R. Pufnstuf," which many have concluded to be a covert reference to reefer madness).

Ironically, Trudeau mentions "The Denver Post" in today's strip. That newspaper is perhaps one of the very few major city newspapers which does not carry "Doonesbury."

Here is our top ten from "The Roanoke Times"

1. "Doonesbury"

2. "Pearls Before Swine"

3. "Speed Bump"

4. "Garfield"

5. "Get Fuzzy"

6. "Dilbert"

7. "Jump Start"

8. "Agnes"

9. "Funky Winkerbean"

10. "Blondie"

http://doonesbury.slate.com/

http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine#.Usnz_zYo6Uk

http://www.dilbert.com/


http://www.fusionpilatesasheville.com

http://www.tehfarmco.com (Marijuana outlet in Boulder, Colo.)

Virtual Postcard from Colorado-The Boulder Theatre

Well, we are no longer in the great western state of Colorado, but we were there last week. This image is of The Boulder Theatre in downtown Boulder, Colo., the venue no longer shows films on a regular basis, but it does host traveling bands. On Thursday, the hip folk band Trampled by Turtles plays there, and on June 1st, the '80s band The BoDeans, one of the best bands out of Wisconsin, comes to the 80302 zip code.

While we were visiting Boulder, we learned that Dushanbe, Tajikistan, the capital of a remote former Soviet republic- of all places, was one of Boulder's main sister cities. For the residents of Boulder, Dushanbe's mayor Maksud Ikramov commissioned local Tajiki artists to build a teahouse which was disassembled and shipped to Boulder.

Boulder, which is home to the Colorado University Buffaloes, also has an excellent bookstore called The Boulder Book Store, where one can find both the liberal magazine "The Nation" and the conservative journal "The National Review," which is fitting that Colorado is a swing state in this year's election. Like most college towns, except Lynchburg, Va., and Provo, Utah, Boulder is a fairly liberal place and that is evident by its many marijuana dispensaries. Local news sources said several such businesses were closing due to their close proximity to schools (1,000 feet is apparently where authorities draw the line).

Colorado is also home to Colorado Springs, an evangelical Mecca (is that an oxy moron, or what) which home to Focus on the Family and several other right-wing groups.

The Boulder Book Store is hosting author Geraldine Brooks for a book signing of "Caleb's Crossing" on May 19th.

Boulder is also sister cities with Lhasa, Tibet, Yateras, Cuba, and Kisumu, Kenya.

Our special 'virtual postcard' greetings go out to blog readers from Chile, Lebanon and New Zealand, who visited our blog today!

http://www.bouldermmdispensary.comhttp://www.boulderteahouse.comhttp://www.bouldertown.com

Image of the Day/Week- Ice Cream Cone

Spring is underway, and now it seems like the season, especially with global warming (forgive the political humor), to appreciate a nice ice cream cone, unless you live in Fairbanks, Alaska.

We were going to mention Giffords Ice Cream in Bethesda, Md., which had a reputation for being one of the Washington, DC-area's best independent ice cream shops, but they were purchased last year by the Maine-based Giffords Ice Cream, which lead to this headline in "City Paper" (Washington)  from Oct. 25, 2011, which sounds like an April Fool's Joke or a story in the satirical publication "The Onion:" 'Gifford's Ice Cream Is Now Called Gifford's Ice Cream.'

But, we did find an actual non-corporate ice cream place in Boulder, Colo., in the Table Mesa part of town called the Boulder Ice Cream Shoppe. However, we presume it may be easy to mistake it for Boulder Ice Cream, an organic ice cream company which says on its web site that it makes its produce from the milk of Rocky Mountain cows.

SIDEBAR: Speaking of ice cream, we loved this headline's in today's online edition of "Politico," a daily Washington, DC-based newspaper/web page dedicated only to politics: 'Rob Portman: Vice President Vanilla.'

This is in reference to the possibility that Mitt Romney will choose Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) for his vice-presidential nomination given that votes in places like Dayton, Toledo and Akron will matter significantly more than ones in Provo, Utah, or Princeton, NJ, two college-towns which will assuredly go to the respective candidates (the other, of course, being President Barack Obama) who are almost certain to carry Utah and New Jersey respectively.

Portman is liked by moderate Republicans and intellectual conservatives, such as commentator David Brooks of "The New York Times," but fervent right-wingers, birthers and tea partiers, seem to be carrying the mantra of far right Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, who is tauting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

Bonus Road Trip- Cincy to Boulder (5 of 10)

Today, we look at the distance between the settings of two iconic late '70s sitcoms as we survey the distance between Boulder, Colo., the setting of "Mork and Mindy," and "WKRP in Cincinnati," which was, of course, set in Cincinnati, Ohio.

For this, we chose the addresses of WKRQ (101.9-FM) in Cincinnati and The West End Tavern in Boulder, Colo. If anyone travels to Cincy, we highly recommend the American Sign Museum, which is ever the fascinating place.

Is the answer:

A) 18 hours

B) 19 hours

C) 20 hours

D) 21 hours

SIDEBAR: Back in January, we posted an entry on either this blog or my other one (we don't have archivists) about the heavy metal band GWAR. Alas, Cory Smoot aka "Flattus Maximus" of the band died on Nov. 3. But, the band went on with its scheduled performance in Tempe, Az., earlier in the week and paid tribute tribute to their fallen guitarist by dousing the crowd with blood. Hmmm.....

Special Quote of the Week- Upton Sinclair

Today, we start our series of quips from novelists past and present with a quote from the great American liberal muckracking author Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) who is most known for "The Jungle" (1906).

That docu-novel was adapted into an excellent 2004 graphic novel by Peter Kuper and Emily Russell.

Sinclair's other famous novel "Oil!" (1927) was made into the much-acclaimed 2007 film "There Will Be Blood," which won its lead actor Daniel Day-Lewis his second Oscar.

Sinclair is one of several famous people who were born in Baltimore, including Babe Ruth, Eubie Blake, David Byrne and John Waters.

One can probably find several copies of "The Jungle" at the Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colo., which is one of my favorite bookstores in America.

On May, the Boulder Bookstore will host guest author Josh Chetwynd who will talk about his new book "The History of Balls," which is about things like softballs, basketballs and dodgeballs. Yeah, we agree that the title might mislead people.

Here is the quote from Sinclair:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it."

SIDEBAR_ Those who like Upton Sinclair, such as myself, probably like reading "The Nation" magazine as well. Like their conservative counterparts, the web page of "The Nation" (thenation.com) has lots of articles on Osama bin Laden's killing in Pakistan and what might happen next.

But, the current issue also focuses on how the Republican jobs plan has, in the words of "The Nation," become a total failure.

Some interesting things about the notorious terrorist which haven't been reported much in the media, as a youngster he apparently enjoyed watching "Bonanza" and Bruce Lee kung-fu movies. Wow! is what I said too.

We hope everyone is enjoying their lunch hours in Los Angeles, perhaps you are dinning at the Mandolin Grille (I've actually never been to L.A.!)

We Are Postponing the Top 10 Entry (for the moment)

We are going to post our Top Ten list of very long names, but we think Mon., April 25 will be the better time for that as opposed to today since our last entry took as long as reading "War and Peace" would.

Since we knew we would mention Leo Tolstoy's epic 1,225 page novel which perhaps an inmate at the Birmingham, Alabama, city jail on 425 6th Avenue, South, is reading to pass the time, we will point out a few things we learned about the work here.

__ It was originally published in 1869

___Novel begins in 1805 during the reign of Tsar Alexander I and it details the years in which Russia was invaded by Napoleon starting in 1812.

___Made into 1956 Hollywood film with Henry Fonda and Audrey Fonda, as well as the more critically-acclaimed very long (we think it lasts like ten hours) version made in Russia in 1968.

_ "War and Peace" has also been adopted into an opera and stage play.

Elif Batuman, a fellow Turkish-American (I don't know her personally) wrote about her love for Tolstoy and other Russian authors in her recent memoir "The Possessed."

And, in all likelihood University of Virginia professor and author Sina Vaidhyanathan will make our hardest names in the world list. In his latest book "The Googlization of Everything," he states that the small town of Eu, France, actually considered changing its name so that it would not be confused with the EU (European Union) on Google search engines.

As for "War and Peace," one can probably find it at PackBackers (a student bookstore at North Carolina State) and the Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colo.

This weekend is also Independent Record Store Weekend, and if one is in Athens, Georgia, they may want to visit Wuxtry Records where I found a rare cd from the late German New Wave pop artist Klaus Nomi when I was visited the town two weeks ago.

Beer Week Promo

No, we are not encouraging drinking alcohol, but rather our focus on the world's most unique and fascinating brews. It is actually the continuation of a series that we've been putting together for a while, but we haven't featured any new entries since December.

To be timely, we may choose Sakara Gold, an Egyptian beer we featured on one of these blogs in our Beers of the Muslim World series, or if there is another revolution in let's say Amman, we may go with the Jordanian beer Petra to be more timely and hip.

Of course, we could also go with Bohemia Beer from Mexico, but since there are reportedly beers with that same name in Brazil and the Czech Republic, it could be confusing!

We will leave with this post that I put up on Facebook yesterday:

"Things we learned from Twitter today- Mubarak will step down; Mubarak will NOT step down; the College Inn in Boulder, Colo., reportedly has the best Happy Hour in the Denver-metro area."

Happy Thanksgiving/Black Friday from Roy Rogers

Yes, of course, we are aware that cowboy singer/actor Roy Rogers (1911-1998) is no longer with us, but why should that stop him from wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving, or Black Friday, as it is now in Mumbai!

It is still only 6:08 p.m. in San Francisco where author/blogger Christian Lander who hit it big with his first book "Stuff White People Like" will appear at Books Inc on Chestnut Street on Dec. 2. Lander then travels to nearby Berkeley, Calif., on Dec. 3 to visit Pegasus Books.

Lander is also going to visit two of my favorite bookstores in les etats unis early next year when he stops at The Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colo., on Wed., Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. He then ventures just outside the 303 area code (whoops! We stand corrected Denver IS in the 303 area code) to visit the Tattered Bookstore in Denver on Jan. 13, also at 7:30 p.m.

But, for you red state folks who obviously stumbled upon the wrong blog, fear not, my dear mom's home state of South Carolina which just elected one of Sarah Palin's crazed mama grizzly cubs for governor in Nikki Haley is having tax-free buy as many guns as you like day for the gun wacko Yosemite Sam-types who are eagerly going to sneak across the border from the Charlotte-metro area and stack up on some ammo.

One such place is Aim Right Guns and Ammo in the border town of Fort Mill, SC, (yes, we wondering if the name suggests a political message too) which features photos of a local kid who took out a Bambi Quentiin Tarantino-style.

If that doesn't satisfy one's gun lust, there is Nichol's Store just down the road in Rock Hill, SC, which will open on Black Friday, which is also Tax Free Day for all your glock and magnum needs, at 8:00 a.m. sharp.

However, if you're a conservative guy who prefers a night of good music to a deer-hunting trip to West Virginia, you can enjoy Roy Rogers Jr. himself (well, there are some liberals who like country and western shows, I suppose, but I imagine they have to keep wery, wery quite around their Elmer Fudd buddies) will be performing at the Mickey Gilley Theatre in Branson, Missouri, until mid-December.

But, irregardless if you're a fellow booky liberal intellectual type or if you're a right-wing maniac who likes to get his ass up at 3:30 a.m. to shoot woodpeckers, we hope you have a fun and safe Thanksgiving/Black Friday....just be sure to wear blaze orange if you're going to walk in the woods in South Carolina!

50 Beers of the World- Pabst Blue Ribbon (USA)

Today's 50 Beers of the World entry focuses on an American brew Pabst Blue Ribbon, which started in Milwaukee but the home brewery is now located in Woodbridge, Ill. The beer is often called PBR.

It debuted at a festival in Chicago back in 1893, and the beer reached its peak period in 1977 when PBR sold 18 million barrels in 1977.

We presume the brew can be found at The West End Tavern in Boulder, Colo., located at 926 Pearl Street, which was voted Best Bar in Boulder by "The Daily Camera" (the local newspaper).

Closer to home and the last time we checked, PBR was available at our favorite Turkish restaurant in the country Tallula's on Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill, NC, which also has an Urfa Kebab that is to die for.

SIDEBAR: Israeli journalist Elana Kirsch has an excellent article in the online edition of "The Jerusalem Post" about her recent trip to Istanbul, Turkey, which comes at a time when the governments of Ankara and Jerusalem have mucked things up between the two countries that were once on excellent diplomatic terms. Kirsch said she was greeted with everything from "Shalom" to "free Gaza" to "We hate Israel." My favorite part of her story though is when she first told locals that she was Australian. I did something similar on a trip to Baku, Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic that borders Iran in 2008 when I said I was 'from Istanbul.' (I'm a Turkish-American). When I ran into people who were actually from Istanbul, I had to fess up.

Top 10 List- Places Around the World I Want to Visit

Today, we debut my weekly Top 10 lists with a Top 10 list of places I want to visit outside the United States. Well, no Canadian cities made the list, actually. So, I suppose I could say outside North America. Of course, those who know me will be less surprised by my off-beat choices.

1. Tashkent, Uzbekistan- I always thought this would be a perfect place to shoot a spaghetti western rip-off with Turkish actor Cuneyt Arkin (pictured here). Of course, Arkin, a '70s matinee idol in Istanbul, is now 72 years old, and he has already been in several such ripoffs, including "Kucuk Kovboy/The Little Cowboy." But, Tashkent also boasts Central Asia's only metro system!

2. Bergen, Noway- We love Norway here, so this is a logical choice though we've never actually been there! It is home to the Norwegian soccer team Brann and the folk singer Magnet (yes, that is his actual stage name!).

3. Thessaloniki, Greece- Yes, we would love to visit the second-largest Greek city and the birthplace of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk ('course, we had to throw that in to appease the relatives in Konya, Turkey). The city that is quite hard to spell also boasts an international film festival.

4. Mus, Turkey- This very remote eastern Turkish city is on the list simply because I was going to actually travel there for a friend's wedding but I had to get to Istanbul to catch a flight back to Newark International Airport in New Jersey. Mus sits on the Murat River overlooking the Kurtik Mountains. The Greeks apparently have no territorial interests in this city (hopefully, they will get the joke; not so sure about my fellow Turks- who are not known for having a good sense of humor).

5. Akureyi, Iceland- 24 hours of daylight in the summertime! This city has only 17,000 residents which makes it the size of Carrboro, NC, but it is somehow Iceland's second-largest city! It also boasts an 18-hole golf course.

6. Pontevedra, Spain- This city of 81,576 residents simply makes the list because I have lots of postcards from there. It is known for a Roman bridge which crosses the Lerez River.

7. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil- I think everyone knows about this place which was incidentally the setting of the 1984 Michael Caine film "Blame it on Rio!"

8. Tangiers, Morocco- A city which attracts hippies, vagabonds and famous authors like the late William Burroughs who set his novel "Naked Lunch" there.

9. St. Petersburg, Russia- This makes my list because a Facebook friend of mine recently visited there, and it looks a fabulous place. It is home to the famed Hermitage Museum and it overlooks the Neva River (not the Volga as I once wrongly believed).

10. Kyoto, Japan- This city if the former imperial capital of Japan---enough said!

SIDEBAR: Domestically, Boulder, Colo., has been called "The Best Place to Raise Abducted Children" for a third year in a row by "The Onion."* The cover article had the following quote which we sincerely loved: "The residents here are quick to smile and say hello, but never ask you why you have an Asian baby."

*_For those of you visiting us from Uzbekistan, "The Onion" is a satirical journal.

Things We Learned on Twitter Yesterday PM- Colorado is the Fittest State

Folks in Boulder, Colo., are probably cheering today but not because of an achievement from their beloved University of Colorado (mascot pictured here), but rather because the state of Colorado was named the fittest one in les etats unis.

According to a tweet from "The Denver Post," Colorado was the only state with an adult obesity rate of less than 20 percent. Colorado has just a 19.1 percent adult obesity rate.

Mississippi was the fattest state for a sixth year in a row with a 33.8 rate of obesity.

As for my two states, Virginia has 25. 5 percent rate of obesity while North Carolina has a fairly high 29.4 percent rate, which placed the Tarheel State in the top ten as they are the tenth fattest state in the country.

Quote of the Day- Gunter Grass

Perhaps those of you visiting our blog from Boulder, Colo., can find a Gunter Grass novel, like his most famous work "The Tin Drum" (the novel came out in 1959, an award-winning film version came out in 1979), at the Boulder Bookstore.

But, for the rest of us who aren't living in such a hip happening place, well we can always quote Mr. Grass.

The German author, who was born in 1927, was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1999. The film version of "The Tin Drum" was actually banned in Oklahoma City in 1997 after a Christian fundamentalist group saw some controversial sexual scenes from the movie out of context.

The evangelical group did not even watch the film in its entirety! But, the ban was removed in 2001 though we aren't sure if a resident of Tulsa can put the controversial late '60s Swedish film "I Am Curious Yellow" on his Netflix que!

We are quoting Mr. Grass because he is from one of the 32 countries in the upcoming World Cup in South Africa.

Although I haven't been there in a long time, we expect that partisan fans will be rooting for Germany from the Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown, W.Va., which is actually only an hour outside Washington, DC, where one might be able to find "Cat and Mouse" (a 1961 novel by Grass) at Politics and Prose.

Here is the quip from the great writer who also penned "The Dog Years" in 1963:

"Everything bigger than life attracts a crowd."

I Got Zinged!

I have to hand it to my sister Lale Lovell and her husband Matt. They got me this year for April Fool's Day. Not only did they NOT believe me when I told them I was going to go sky-diving, they pulled their own prank.

Lale informed me that her friend Denise and her husband needed someone to work the NRA booth at the Boulder's Farmer Market in Boulder, Col.

Since my sister voted for Barack Obama, and seems hardly inclined towards becoming a Second Amendment Sister, this was quite a shock though she did vote for Bob Dole in 1996 (My mother and I have since forgiven her).

I am still recovering though I take comfort in the fact that about seven folks 'fell' for my prank, including my friend Bahadir Acuner of Seattle who hurled an expletive my way.......!

For the record, I did not act that way towards my sister. I suppose next year she'll tell me that she went to a Gogol Bordello concert!

The group plays in her area at the Fox Theatre in Boulder on May 28.