Potluck Quote of the Day (8 out of 10): Brigitte Bardot

Today we quote French bombshell actress Brigitte Bardot, who was tonight's Star of the Day on TCM which screened several of her films including "Contempt" by the amazing filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. Bardot has also gotten wide media attention for speaking out against Muslim emigre women wearing burkinis along resorts on the French coast. Amazingly enough, we got into a row on Twitter with BOTH Muslims and non-Muslims for expressing our nuanced views on that matter. It seems like social media is a great way for everyone to hate your guts!

Before we get to tonight's quote, we want to thank WXYC-FM, the student-run UNC college radio station in Chapel Hill, NC, for playing one of our high school favorites "New Girl Now" by the Canadian band Honeymoon suite and the new wave German-language classic "Das Komasor" from the late Austrian pop star Falco.

Additionally, we want to share this great line from the Sunday edition Paul Jon's comic strip "Fort Knox": "Absolutely, in a few years, it will take over our backyard.

Lastly, we want to congratulate Turkish free-style wrestler Taha Akgul for winning his nation's lone gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Here is our quote from Bardot: "If only every man who sees my films did not get the impression he can make love to me, I would be a lot happier."

http://www.tcm.com

http://www.wxyc.org/

http://www.gocomics.com/fortknox

https://www.rio2016.com/en/turkey

20-Word Fiction (7 of 10): The Saturday Night Bath

Greetings to our blog readers in Germany, Ireland and Hungary....

Yes, we know this image of Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy from "Adam's Rib" (1949) doesn't go with our title, which we came up with thanks to Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin's surreal art film "The Forbidden Room," which came out theatrically last year.

But, once you take the time to read this short, short story, perhaps you will understand or perhaps you will not!:

"Molly want to go to the movies with her friends tonight. Netflix is always my backup plan. I need alternatives!"....

If you are actually interested in going to the movies, then you may want to see the critically acclaimed film "Sunset Song" at the Film Forum in New York.

Meanwhile, two college town cinemas The Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., and The Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, are both showing the animated children's film "Zootopia."

Check the links below for more information:

http://www.filmforum.org

http://www.thelyric.com

http://www.varsityonfranklin.com

Sunday Comics Survey from Feb. 8th Roanoke Times: Pastis Goes for the Punt

Greetings to our blog readers in New Zealand, Croatia and France.......

And, our deepest condolences to the friends and families of the three Syrian Muslim college students who killed in their Chapel Hill, NC, apartment yesterday.

On a lighter note, here are our ten favorite comic strips from the most recent edition of "The Roanoke Times," the daily newspaper of Roanoke, Va.

For starters, "Pearls Before Swine," a Stephan Pastis comic strip, makes fun of Norwegian lemmings one of whom goes for a pass thrown by another lemming and well, you can guess the rest. One of the surviving lemming says (SPOILER ALERT) that he will not be going to Disneyland. Our top image of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who won his fourth Super Bowl, is used for the strip, though he is not mentioned in 'Pearls.'

Third place goes to the single-panel gem "Speed Bump" which has a male angel being presumably nagged by his wife about reading a novel instead of going to bed. For this, we chose the late Daniel Foster Wallace novel "Infinite Jest," (pict. center) which is over 1,000 pages long! Perhaps, an inmate at Red Onion Prison in southwest Virginia is reading the novel. If so, they may actually finish it. A literary major at Brown University in Rhode Island, conversely, may not get to the end!

And, fifth place goes to "Agnes" who is questioning her teacher about the overload of homework (bottom image: an algebra calculator).

Here is our survey:

1) Pearls Before Swine

2) Doonesbury

3) Speed Bump

4) Get Fuzzy

5) Agnes

6) Garfield

7) Jump Start

8) Dilbert

9) Zits

10) For Better or For Worse

For last week's "Roanoke Times" comics survey, go to our sister blog http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

Halloween Tweets: Trick-or-Treat Invasions

Greetings to our beloved blog-readers in Scotland, Switzerland and Kuwait.

Today is not only Halloween; it also marks the sixth anniversary of our blog "The Daily Vampire." Perhaps some of you remember 2008, The Beatles had just arrived in America, Chairma Mao Tse Tung became the leader of China and a marijuana-inspired cartoon with a talking dog named "Scooby Doo"debuted on television..........:)

In case, you are wondering the bottom image is from the Turkish horror film "Drakula Istanbul'da/Dracula in Istanbul"!

Here are some unique tweets from Halloween night:

1) News&Record: Trick-or-treaters invade Greensboro neighborhood.
 
2) UNC Swag: Everyone in Chapel Hill tonight, please be safe and careful in what you do.....

3) Abraham Lincoln: Tonight in 1865, Lincoln, Mary, and Miss Clara attended Grover's Theatre for opera "The Magic Flute." She was with them at the assassination.

4) Bill Amend (the cartoonist from "Foxtrot"): All right enough with the sad Halloween boredom. Booze, meet Springsteen. Booze and Springsteen, meet Bill Amend.

5) Top Conservative Cat (a satiric tweeter): Next on Fox News, President Obama lures children to pagan festival at the White House.

6) Marc Maron (stand-up comic, star of "Maron" on IFC): "Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhh! WTFHaloween!!!!"

7) The Coffee Bean (a LA-based coffee producer): "Spooky Halloween greetings 2 U from Ur friends at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Have fun and be safe tonight."

http://www.visitgreensboronc.com/

http://www.visitchapelhill.org/

http://www.foxtrot.com/

http://www.wtfpod.com/

http://www.coffeebean.com/

No Blog Entry Today as I am Sick as a Cat (we couldn't resist)

We believe this is a Van cat or an Angoran cat both of which are native to Turkey. We also think this image is from a cat club in Ankara, Turkey, which is the capital.

I suppose this is a good time to mention that The Beatles' tribute band Abbey Road Live, our of Athens, Ga., will play at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC, on Jan. 17th at 9:00 p.m., and they are offering a matinee show on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Prices for the Friday show range from $10-12 and the Saturday matiness is $8 for children and $10 for adults.

We also want to salute our good friend Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, for both the 10th anniversary of his blog (he is two years ahead of us) and his 5,000th blog entry. The latest entry is a moving tribute to Bill Overstreet, a World War II fighter pilot, from Roanoke, Va., our hometown, who died this week.

Knight is not to be confused with our other friend (well, in the Facebook sense) Keith Knight, who is an award-winning cartoonist for his work with "K-Chronicles" and his daily comic strip "Knight Life."

http://www.theknightshift.blogspot.com

http://www.kchronicles.com


http://www.catchannel.com

http://www.catscradle.com

http://www.catchannel.com

Sports Desk: College Volleyball Notebook...........A Good week for Tarheels and Highlanders

There were an unholy number of women's college volleyball games played over the weekend, as unlike some college sports, such as gymnastics and lacrosse, virtually every school in the country seems to have a women's volleyball, even The Citadel, a military institution in Charleston, SC, which only let women become students in recent years.

Let's start with the University of North Carolina Tarheels, as the team swept Notre Dame, a new ACC member, for a second time this year. This particular match being at home in Chapel Hill, NC.

Jovana Bjelica (pictured top), a graduate student from Belgrade, Serbia, who formerly played for Florida International University, had 16 kills, five digs and four service aces in the win over the Fighting Irish.

For her efforts in that game, as well as a win over North Carolina State earlier in the week, Bjelica was named ACC Player of the Week. The 'Heels are now 13-0, and ranked #11 in the country.

The other UNC_ this being the University of Northern Colorado Bears in Greeley, Colo._ had a tough bout with Weber State which ended in a 3-2 affair that was won by the school from Utah. But, Kendra Cunnigham, a junior from Eaton, Colo,, had 20 kills for the Bears.

And, Rachel Wiechecki, a junior from Wilmington, Del., had 14 kills and 20 digs to help Radford University in Radford, Va, your's truly'a alma mater, to a straight set win over arch rival Liberty. It was a home game for the Highlanders, and the team's first win over the Flames in several years. The Highlanders also won tonight over North Carolina Central 3-2 in Durham, NC.

Here are 15 weekend women's college volleyball games and their results:


Harvard 3 Darthmouth 0

UNC-Asheville 3 Gardner-Webb 1

Georgia 3 LSU 2

Virginia Tech 3 Wake Forest 1

*UNC 3 Notre Dame 0

JMU 3 William and Mary 2

Colorado 3 UCLA 2

Princeton 3 Penn 2

Duke 3 UVA 0

Ohio State 3 Michigan 1

*Weber State 3 Northern Colorado 2

Miami (Fl) 3 Boston College 2

Kentucky 3 Alabama 1

Long Beach St. 3 UC-Santa Barbara 2

*Radford 3 Liberty 0

*-Featured games

Incidentally, the middle image is a replica of the volleyball that was a companion to Tom Hanks in the film "Castaway."


http://www.ruhighlanders.com/index.aspx?path=wvball&tab=1

http://www.goheels.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3350&SPID=12977&SPSID=668175&SITE=UNC&DB_OEM_ID=3350

http://uncbears.com/sports/wvball/index

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

The Return of Friday Night Tweets: Drug Bust in Hurricane, West Virginia

 

There is a full moon out tonight, and sure enough lots of crazy effing stuff is going on. The tweet from "The Toronto Sun" is an eye-catcher as is one from "The Charleston Gazette" in Charleston, W.Va. We also have tweets from Baltimore and Chapel Hill  (NC) as well.

 

 

Let's get started:

 

 

1) The Baltimore Sun @baltimoresun (image top): A1: Edward Snowden charges with spying, Somber Police Academy graduation. Man gets his name off sex offender list. School divides community.

 

2) Charleston Gazette @wvgazette: "Three arrested in Hurricane meth bust. Hurricane, WVa_ Three people were arrested Friday.....

 

3) Wall Street Journal @wsj (image center): "Average American slept 8 hours, 44 minutes per night in 2012"

 

4) Chapel Hill Magazine @chapelhillmag: "So proud of @DiamondHeels. What a season! It was so fun to witness their talent, resilience and heart."

 

5) The Daily Tar Hell @dailytarheel: UNC falls to UCLA 4-1 to end season.

 

6) The Toronto Sun @TheTorontoSun (image below; the late 1960s children's show "H.R. Pufnstuf" has been closely associated with weed): "Fired pot-smoking City of Ottawa worker fails to convince court his reefer madness is disability."

 

7) Samantha Peszek (a UCLA gymnast): "Proud of the @UCLABaseball team right now....Absolutely killin it!"

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.uclabruins.com

http://www.wvgazette.com

http://www.baltimorecity.gov

Our Top Ten Comic Strips for This Week- Hermit Crabs, TED Talks and Norwegian Lemmings

Last year, we took lines from Sunday comic strips and made a collage out of those words for a series of entries. But, since those entries were very time-consuming, and we thought we might get the wrath of Bill Griffith, the cartoonist of "Zippy the Pinhead," among others, we decided to try the same concept in another way.

Our absolute favorite comic strip of the week was "Brevity," which made fun of TED Talks, and hence we have English education maverick Kenneth Robinson, a frequent TED contributor, in the middle image.

Other highlights included Tom Batiuk's "Funky Winkerbean," which dealt with two pizzeria guys talking about their high school days. Batiuk was in our region over the weekend as he visited our friends at Chapel Hill Comics in Chapel Hill, NC. The strip is carried in "The Roanoke Times," the newspaper of my hometown of Roanoke, Va.

We also loved the conversation between a hermit crab (pictured top) and a Galapagos turtle in "Sherman's Lagoon" about how 'cool it is to be single,' though (SPOILER ALERT) at the end of Jim Toomey's comic strip this week, once senses one or both of them will seek out the underwater version at E-Harmony. Of course, one can see such undersea creatures at The National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland (come on, give us a free admission for the plug, we'll make the 7.5 hour drive in return!).

Lastly, "Pearls Before Swine," which is even in the "News and Advance" in Lynchburg, Va. (we love to make fun of Lynchburg here), featured the fate of Norwegian lemmings, creatures known to commit ritual suicide in droves every year.

Ironically, we are featuring the usually right-wing comic strip "Mallard Fillmore" because they made fun of Greek yogurt (the executive editor of this blog Tilly Gokbudak is a Turkish-American").

Here are ten of our favorite comic strips of the week (in alphabetical order as opposed to the more subjective order of preference); we found this comic strips in "The Washington Post" and the online version of "The Denver Post:"


1. "Brevity"

2. "Dog Eat Doug"

3. "Funky Winkerbean"

 4. "Garfield" *

5. "Lio"*

6. "Mallard Fillmore"

7. "Overboard"

8. "Pearls Before Swine" *

9. "Rhymes with Orange" *

10. "Sherman's Lagoon"*

*-Comic strips featured in the Sunday print version of "The Washington Post"

http://www.garfield.com

http://www.shermanslagoon.com

http://www.chapelhills.com

http://www.aqua.org

http://www.ted.com/talks

Top 10 More Things To Do List

Well, as it turns out, there are some more 'things to do' that we were not aware of:

1. Buy groceries

2. Decide on Cat's Cradle shows (music venue near Chapel Hill, NC)

3. Look up comic books values

4. Read, compare and contrast "The Nation" and "National Review"

5. Read, compare and contrast "The Weekly Standard" and "Mother Jones"

6. Make some Counter Culture Coffee

7. See what the weather in Istanbul, Turkey, is like

8. See what the weather in Trenton, New Jersey, is like

9. Avoid Blacksburg, Va., at all costs, as Virginia is having commencement this weekend

10. Let the freaking cat in

Saturday is Free Comic Day

Since Free Comic Book Day is Saturday and May Day is today, we thought we'd post three comic books with "Green Arrow" (known as Yeshil Okcu in Turkish) from DC Comics who is supposedly the most progressive of mainstream American comic book characters.

Hmmm.....yeah, I suppose if Rush Limbaugh is reading this, he will call for a boycott of Green Arrow, well we really don't care.

In Gotham (New York City), Midtown Comics is celebrating Free Comic Day with guests like Jim Lee, of "Uncanny X-Men" fame, Scott Snyder from "Batman," Nate Cosby from "Green Hornet" and our good friend (well, we have actually conversed online) Chris Eliopolous, who has a great underground comic strip called "Desperate Times." Gosh, we sure hope we spelled your name right, Chris (especially since you are of Greek heritage, and I am half-Turkish)!

At Midtown Comics, Jamal Peepers and Alex Simmons from Archie comics, which produces many children's comic books besides the usual Archie and Jughead standards, including "Sonic the Hedgehog."

Other comic book stores celebrating the occasion are Casablanca Comics in Portland, Maine, (the other 'Portlandia'), B & D Comics in Roanoke, Va., and Chapel Hill Comics in Chapel Hill, NC, which will also host comic strip artist Tom Batiuk of "Funky Winkerbean" on June 8th.

SIDEBAR: Since our hits go through the roof whenever we quote Che Guevara, we will post one of his quotes here. It should be pointed that while we politically support most center-left positions, we are not in favor of radical revolutions, especially if firearms are involved!

Here is one of Che's more famous quotes; we are not sure if he said this the day he was executed in Bolivia in 1968:

"The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall."

http://www.midtowncomics.com

http://www.casablancacomics.com

http://www.chapelhillcomics.com

http://www.bandcomics.com

http://www.freecomicbookday.com

http://www.chriselipolous.com

Where's Josh Ritter?

For starters, we should point that our title is not to imply that singer/writer Josh Ritter is a missing person; it is rather a take on "Where's Waldo?"_ we are also going to explain where Ritter is performing in the coming weeks.

I have seen Ritter at Cat's Cradle three times in the last six years, and he is absolutely amazing in concert. Of course, now that I'm in my early forties, I'm glad I know the difference between Ritter and Andrew Bird.

Alas, the titles of his songs and records escape, but that's why we have Wikipedia right?

Here is where Ritter will be playing soon; and we are including a link to WXYC-FM, the student-run radio station of the University of North Carolina as he will be performing at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC, a  community which literally borders Chapel Hill:

May 8 State Theatre Portland, Maine

May 9 Calvin Theatre Northampton, Mass.

May 11th and 12th 9:30 Club Washington, DC (both shows are sold out)

May 12 Cat's Cradle Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC

May 13 The Orange Peel Asheville, NC

http://www.joshritter.com

http://www.930.com

http://www.catscradle.com

http://www.wxyc.org

http://www.whereswaldo.com

Record Store Day is Saturday

Albums from David Bowie, Herbie Hancock and the late Cem Karaca (1945-2004), a Turkish psychedelic music icon are among the selections one may find on any given day at an independent locally-owned record store, but Saturday is a day that has been marked as Record Store Day.

Some of the stores you may want to check out, depending on where you reside, may include Wuxtry Records in Athens, Ga. (with two other locations in the Atlanta-area), All Day Records in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC, Enterprise Records in Portland, Maine, and Plan 9 Records with locations in Charlottesville and Richmond, Va.

Folk/rock singer Billy Bragg who we mentioned a few entries back is also performing a regular concert at The Cat's Cradle, which is in close proximity to All Day Records, on Friday, but we imagine he will be too busy with soundchecks to stop in that store. Hopefully, if you live in Chapel Hill, that will not be the case with you.


http://www.wuxtry-records.com

http://www.alldayrecords.com

http://www.catscradle.com

http://www.billybragg.com

http://www.davidbowie.com

http://www.recordstoreday.com

http://www.enterpriserecords.net

http://www.plan9music.com

Happy 75th Birthday, Superman

While it is common knowledge that Superman has been played in tv and in film by the likes of Dean Cain, Brandon Routh, the late Christopher Reeve and the late George Reeves, it is not commonly known that he was also played by the late Turkish actor Tayfun Demir  (pictured here) in the 1979 rip-off film "Superman Donuyor/The Return of Superman").

Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 on April 18, 1938, and according to the Overstreet Comic Book Guide, it is worth (in mint condition) a staggering $1.75 million.

One can find considerably newer "Superman" comic books at places like Acme Comics in Greensboro, NC, or Chapel Hill Comics, which is just down I-40 in Chapel Hill, NC.

One famous quote from "Superman" comic books comes in Justice League or America #4, where Superman tells Wonder Woman: "I can only tell you what I believe, Diana: humankind has to be allowed to climb to its own destiny. We can't carry them there."

SIDEBAR: There is yet another tragic development from the Boston Marathon bombing incident on Monday as a third person Lingzi Lu, a Chinese national who was a student at Boston University, died from injuries sustained in the blast.

Another Chinese student from the school Danling Zhou, who was with Lu near the finish line, was seriously injured. The Boston University web site reported that Robert Hill, the dean of Marsh Chapel at BU, visited Zhou and said that she was successfully recovering from surgery at the Boston Medical Center.

Our thoughts go out to all the victims of this horrible act of terrorism.

http://www.acmecomics.com

http://www.chapelhillcomics.com

http://www.bu.edu

Vintage Harvey Comics Covers- Hot Stuff #100

While we are recovering from the NCAA basketball tournament losses for Georgetown, UNC, Harvard, Colorado and well so many teams we were rooting for, we thought we'd post this vintage Harvey Comics cover for "Hot Stuff," issue #100. I believe I have a copy of this comic book, but alas it is not in good condition. We believe this particular issue came out in 1980.
Free Comic Book Day which will celebrated at places like Chapel Hill Comics in Chapel Hill, NC, will be on Saturday, May 4th.

chapelhillcomics.com

This Blog Will Go On....

Yes, there have been way too many distractions as of late, but we are hoping to continue this blog in 2013, though in all probability not with the fervent frequency we've posted with in recent years.

One of our hopes this year is to post a Weekly World Weather Update on Wednesdays, starting on Jan. 23, and we are also going to attempt to post Sports Desk Updates on Mondays, hopefully with the start of Mon., Jan. 21.

Today, we are going to provide a sneak peak of our proposed world weather series with a look at the temperature in Bursa, Turkey, which is the country's fourth largest city.

Bursa is also the hope of our good friends Haviat and Karagoz (he's the dude with the beard on the right); all temps are Fahrenheit:


Athens, Georgia* 73 (sunny, slear)

Bursa, Turkey 49 (cloudy)

Chapel Hill, NC* 67 (partly sunny)

Dubai, United Arab Emirates 65 (clear)

London, England, UK 37 (rainy)

Provo, Utah* 18 (cloudy)

Utrecht, Holland 30 (cloudy)

*-American cities, each of them are also college towns.

Weekend Tweets Log_ Happy 52nd Birthday, Scott Baio

We are posting some tweets that we saw on Twitter between 1:30-2:30 p.m. east coast time today. First let's us explain the above images: 1) We thought we'd go with an image of two "Happy Days" characters Joanie and Chachi to go along with a tweet from the PBS' documentary series and because Scott Baio is turning 52 today; 2) We are going with one of the two Ernest Hemingway books I've read (and, I have a degree in English) in honor of the National Book Festival, happening this weekend in Washington, DC,; 3) an image of two British kids enjoying a game of soccer. We are being a bit ironic here as Liverpool faces Manchester United tomorrow, and we expect to be a rowdy crowd. In fact, according to the BBC, security measures have been upgraded for the game.

Here are the tweets:

1) @frontlinepbs ("Frontline"): "A HS dropout will end up costing taxpayers an average of $292K over a lifetime."

2) @TheWriterMag ("The Writer Magazine"): "#TheNatBookFest is a powerful and inspiring mix of genders, genres, generations and cultures. One nation under books!"

3) @libraryofcongress (Library of Congress): "More than 500 @JWLWDC volunteers @NatBookFest! Thanks to this good and loyal group and happy 100th anniversary!"

4) @liverpool (Liverpool FC): "Liverpool v. Man Utd. Predictions please......?"

5) @CoryBooker (Newark, NJ's mayor Cory Booker, who spoke at the Democratic Convention):  "We just landed in Tampa. The Garden State meets the Sunshine State, a great combination!"

6) @MayorMarkK (Chapel Hill, NC's mayor Mark Kleinschmidt who attended the Democratic Convention): "let's be responsible out there @ChapelHillPD #ChapelHillPD will step up enforcement of alcohol laws for UNC v. ECU football on Sat." (At last check, UNC was winning the game 7-3).

7) @Gamecocksonline (South Carolina Gamecocks Athletics): "Fans cheer as palyers at Williams Brice Stadium. Go #Gamecocks." (At last report, the 'cocks were tied 0-0 in their home football game against Missouri."

As it turns out, Scott Baio is associated with many terms in the Urban Dictionary. They are a bit too explicit for National Public Radio, so if interested, we suggest you go to this link: http://www.urbandictionary.com

Other Links:

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

http://www.nationalbook.org

http://www.premiereleague.com

http://www.sitcomsonline.com

http://www.happydaysfans.com

http://www.pbs.org

Tweets Log from Charlotte_ Here Come the Mayors

We logged some tweets from last night regarding the Democratic National Convention, including some from those who will be attending and/or speaking in Charlotte, NC. Mayors figure prominently at the DNC as one of the key speakers will be Mayor Cory Booker (pictured top with New Jersey Devils helmet), the mayor of Newark, NJ. Mayor Anthony Foxx, the Democratic mayor of Charlotte, will also be very involved as the Queen City hosts its very first major political convention.

The third image is of a cup of coffee because The Coffee Party is the counter to the far right-wing Tea Party movement.

We hope we have this clear to those of you checking in from Dubai, Istanbul and Hong Kong.

Here are some sample tweets:

1)@MayorMarkK (Mark Kleinschmidt, not to confused with a German Olympic rower of the same name, is the mayor of Chapel Hill, NC): Attending the LGBT delegate welcome party @ #DNC2012. Untiy!

2) @CoryBooker (Cory Booker): Tuesday night around 6 pm RT (retweet) @alli_bachmann Mayor Booker: When are you speaking at DNC?

3) @theobserver (Charlotte Observer): "Follow our #DNC2012 Twitter account, @DNC2012clt for more news and info about the convention.

4) @DaveAtNorth (Dave Allen): Who is the smallest government spender since Eisenhower? Would you believe it's Barack Obama?

5) @thedailytarheel ("The Daily Tarheel" is the student-run newspaper of the University of North Carolina): With #DNC2012 only two days away, protestors are flooding into Charlotte to voice their discontent with both parties.

6) @nationaljournal ("The National Journal" is a non-partisan political magazine): Google, Facebook to court Dems in Charlotte with trendy parties.

7) @Kevinjk (Kevin Kopplin, a Wisconsin delegate at the DNC): "Just stopped in my hotel's bar. Upon return, we have three states staying in this place, but Wisconsin appears to be the only one drinking."


http://www.ci-chapel-hill.nc/us

http://www.corybooker.com

http://www.charlotteobserver.com

http://www.dailytarheel.com

http://www.nationaljournal.com

http://www.comevisitcharlotte.com

http://www.wisdems.com

http://www.demconvention.com

10 Possible Running Mates for Mitt Romney

For starters, it's an open secret here at "The Daily Vampire" that we are not Republicans ourselves even though our zip code is (I will only say that it's not Provo, Utah), so if we had our way then Mitt Romney would select the Rev. Pat Robertson who said that somehow President Barack Obama's is as corrupt as the Nixon administration was during Watergate. Then again, the people who watch "The 700 Club" are probably the ones who write radical letters-to-the-editor, such as one in "The Roanoke Times" today that said providing security for Michelle Obama when she gave the commencement at Virginia Tech last week was 'a waste of tax-payer money.'

So, here is the order from least offensive to most offensive. From what we've gathered Bill O'Reilly likes Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), David Brooks, the rare rational conservative, likes Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and the GOP's man in the shadows Grover Norquist likes Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-Louisana, pictured at the bottom).

Here we go:

1. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH, pictured top)

2. Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)

3. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)

4. Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-Ind.)

5. (former) Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.)

6. Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.)

7. Gov. Susana Martinez (R-N.Mex.)

8. Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC)

9. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)

10. Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va)

Ironically, we get email updates from both the Virginia Republican Party and the Minutemen Project, who are convinced that Pres. Obama was born in Tanzania or Tajikistan (actually, Zimbabwe is apparently their latest suggest; this is NOT a joke!), so we will provide a link to their web sites as  well as the one for Robertson's own "The 700 Club."

But, 'to balance things out,' we will provide some links to people and groups to the left of us. For starters, there is "The Nation" magazine which in the current issue has an excellent review of a posthumous memoir by singer/poet/activist Gil Scott-Herring, the official web site for filmmaker/activist Michael Moore who speaks with Cornel West tomorrow night at Hunter's College in New York and lastly The Ineternationalist Bookstore in Chapel Hill, NC, which is hosting a t-shirt design contest. Though the Tarheel State is up for grabs, there is virtually no doubt that zip code 27514 (the zip code for Chapel Hill) will go for Pres. Obama, even if he admits that he was born in Dushanbe (the capital of Tajikistan; sister city with Boulder, Colo.).

http://www.rpv.org

http://www.minutemenproject.com

http://www.cbn.com/700club

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.michaelmoore.com

http://www.internationalistbooks.org

Sweet 16 Road Trips_ Meet Me in St. Louis

In an amazing coincidence, both the North Carolina Tarheels men's basketball and women's gymnastics teams are going to be traveling to many miles to either meet up with or potentially meet up with (they have to beat Kansas first) their rivals the North Carolina State Wolfpack.

Both schools' basketball teams are headed to St.Louis for the NCAA Sweet 16 regional; both schools' gymnastics teams are heading to Pittsburgh for the EAGL championships.

The UNC men's basketball team will face the Ohio Bobcats (pictured, the image is of player D.J. Cooper) while the Wolfpack basketball team faces Kansas in the Arch City.

The Sweet 16 also has a pair of at least one set of brothers as senior Tyler Zeller will lead the 'Heels, and his freshman brother Cody Zeller will try to help the Indiana Hoosiers upset top-seed Kentucky.

So, with all these things in mind, we decided to mapquest some miles and figure how long it will take a dedicated to drive or arrive by bus; yes, we realize many will probably opt for a Delta Airlines flight.

Here, we go:

1,115- Miles between Raleigh and Lawrence, Kan., where the Kansas Jayhawks are based.

836- Miles betwen Raleigh and St. Louis, where the two teams will actually play.

806- Miles between Chapel Hill and St. Louis

641- Miles between Chapel Hill and Bloomington, Ind., where Cody Zeller plays.

505-Miles between Raleigh and Pittsburgh, should the Wolfpack's gymnastics fans choose to go Greyhound.

500- Miles between St. Louis and Athens, Ohio, where the Ohio Bobcats play.

476- Miles between Chapel Hill and Pittsburgh, should the Tarheels's gymnastics fans decide to go Greyhound.

380- Miles between Chapel Hill and Athens, Ohio.

284- Miles between St. Louis and Lawrence, Kan.

32- Miles between Chapel Hill and downtown Raleigh.

For this survey, we choose the following seven places:

1. Aya Sofia Cuisine, a Turkish restaurant in St. Louis

2. August Wilson Center, an arts venue in Pittsburgh

3. Irish Lion, an Irish pub in Bloomington, Ind.

4. The Raven Bookstore, Lawrence, Kan.

5. Internationalist Books- Chapel Hill, NC

6. The Pit, a barbecue diner in downtown Raleigh, NC

7. Jackie O's Pub and Brewery, Athens, Ohio.

Ending the Year with Willy Shakespeare

This month, we have been quoting the great English playwright William Shakespeare who penned a play called "All's Well that Ends Well," which was written in 1603 and published in 1623. The play will be performed at the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London on May 23, 2012.

Closer to home, the Playmakers Rep Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, will be performing both "Henry IV" and "Henry V" on a rotating basis from Jan. 28 until March 4th. That production will be co-directed by Jospeh Haj and Mike Donahue.

Here is our quote, and Happy New Year to all of you, whether you be in Philadelphia, London, Budapest, Athens, Istanbul, Tokyo, Sydney or Buenos Aires:

"My crown is called content, a crown that seldom a king enjoys."