DC Week (8 of 8): Afternoon Tweets__The Shutdown May End By Sunrise????

From what we gather, and we don't have PBS talk show hosts Gwen Ifill and Charlie Rose to verify this, the federal government shutdown may end by late tonight. We put a strong emphasis on the word MAY.

So, we decided to post tweets about this crucial issue du jour instead of posting an entry about the new play "Love in Afghanistan" being produced by Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. or the fact that Ford's Theatre can now perform its play "The Laramie Project" at the Ford's Theatre instead of an alternate venue.

But, we are hoping to find some time for those entries by the weekend, in the mean time, here are the links:

http://www.arenastage.org/

http://www.fordstheatre.org/



We also learned today that the term 'tea bag' is a dirty slang word, we won't say what it means, but you can find out what it means in the Urban Dictionary:.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Here are the tweets which mention New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (pictured top) and right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh (pictured bottom):

1. David Wolman (with "Wired): I guess bipartisan agreement is now what House Republicans say they've kneeled before Zod." (this is an apparent reference to the antagonist in "Superman II.")

2. The Fix: RT Omar Villa France_ "I'm curious to know who gets the Worst Week in Washington crown this week. And it's only Wednesday."

3. The Onion: "Blood-soaked Mayor Michael Bloomberg Announces Homelessness No Longer a Problem in New York City." ("The Onion" is a faux news publication)

4. Slate: "Ted Cruz is now basically the Sarah Palin of the Senate."

5. Mark Harris ("Entertainment Weekly"): "I assume the next step for the Tea Party is to start referring to the shutdown on 'The Noble Cause' and staging cosplay repleacements." (Cosplay is a type of Halloween costume).

6. Cong. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): "Should have happened weeks ago. Sen. Reid announces deal to debt limit; reopen government."

7. Cong. Steve Pearce (R-Pa.): "Former White House official calls Obamacare roll-out 'excruciatingly embarrassing.'"

8. Politico: "Rush Limbaugh says GOP created 'one of the greatest political disasters I've seen in my life."

http://www.theonion.com

http://www.politico.com

Blogging Free-Style: Let's Talk About Jurror B29

Here is how this works. We go with trending items in the news, such as 'Juror B29' and 'Royal Baby' and then add them in with other things we threw in the pot, such as Egypt, and we make a short blog entry out of it. We'll signal the catch phrases by putting a single parenthesis around them. 

Here it goes:

"Well, I should be watching Charlie Rose, I gather he is going to talk with guests about political instability in 'Egypt,' but the remote is stuck on CNN, so we'll have to hear about 'George Zimmerman,' 'Jurror B29,' 'the royal baby' (yawn!) and how state legislators in Oklahoma are deliberating to decide if jaywalkers in Tulsa deserve 'the death penalty.'

I wonder how is the weather in 'Winston-Salem, NC,' but the remote will not let me visit the Weather Channel either. Perhaps, I can find out that info via 'Google.' I can also find out when 'Ramadan' ends, so I can send Ramadan greeting cards from Target to all my Muslim friends. Wait. Target doesn't carry Ramadan cards. In fact, no one seems to.

Oh, now CNN is talking about 'Anthony Weiner' (yawn), and apparently 'Pope Francis' is set to visit Holland (the Netherlands)."

GOP Tweets_Turning It Over to Bill, Cenk and Charlie

Last year, a good friend of mine, announced to the world that he woke up one morning and decided to quit blogging. He had 10 times as many followers as I did, so this was a shock. Well, now I understand how he feels. While I'm not completely stepping away from blogging, I am going to wrap up this Republican convention tweet-a-thon sooner than I expected; but I will leave the coverage up to the subjective Bill O'Reilly (from the right) and Cenk Uygur (from the left; I personally prefer Cenk over Bill O) and the objective Charlie Rose.

But, we do hope to post entries on both blogs later in the week about a few heated races, and perhaps I will post a commentary on my thoughts regarding the GOP Convention in Tampa and coverage of it.

We are posting an image of Gov. Chris Christie (R-New Jersey) and American Olympics gold medal gymnast McKayla Maroney because we were thinking the other day that if Maroney got an on an elevator with the governor that a red light would come on. If this seems a bit mean, I should point out that I'm a hefty guy myself and folks have said much meaner things on Twitter about his weight, even Republicans!

As for Maroney, we have no idea where she stands politically (she is not quite old enough to vote), but her unimpressed/disappointment look has made her an Internet sensation, or what is called a meme. She made the wince when she got a silver medal on vault in London; an event where she was highly favored to win gold.

Here are some tweets about the GOP Convention from the night, some adjustments have been made to teh tweets for clarity: 

1) @susanlbrannigan (Susan L. Brannigan): "Rachel Maddow made the Olympic gymnast 'not impressed' look there for a second. LOL!"

2) @THEHermanCain (Herman Cain, a fringe candidate who sought the GOP nomination): "Why all the focus on #Isaac & how it hurts #GOP2012? #Pray for New Orleans and let's focus on #Solutions in Tampa."

3) @BlueInRedZion (a liberal blogger from Utah referring to the heated Congressional race between Mia Love, a Republican challenger to Utah Democratic representative Jim Mattheson): "#MiaLove to speak because she is representative of all female, black Mormons as Rs for Congress."

4) @LeslieType: "I adore Chris Christie. A straight talking mind your business, do as I say New Jersey man. I love it! Repubs and Dems are not ready for him."

5) @cocaoforreal (Touche): "not a big fan of Chris Christie, but of all the GOP 'stars,' he's the most tolerable to me."

6) @TeaPartyCat (Top Conservative Cat, a liberal satirist tweeter): "Because tonight's #RNC was rained out, no speeches from Nikki Haley, Mike Huckabee or Jeb Bush. Just reruns of 2 Broke Girls. Oh, the irony!"

7) @TedCruz (Ted Cruz, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee in Texas; he will face Democrat Paul Sadler. Cruz has a radical Fire Eric Holder, the U.S. Attorney General on his campaign web site): "Speaking at@GOPConvention tomorrow night at around 8:10 CT! Please tune in and RT to remind your friends."


http://www.tytnetwork.com

http://www.current.com

http://www.billoreilly.com

http://www.charlierose.com

http://www.blueinredzion.com

http://www.cainconnections.com

Things We Learned on Twitter Today....Hot as You-Know-What in Richmond, Va.

On Twitter, this p.m., we learned that Richmond, Va., which is relatively close to the zip code I'm in right now, is literally hot as hell.

According to the Twitter site RVaWx (Richmond, Va., weather), the state capital of the Old Dominion is 95 degrees today. There are winds coming into town from the northwest at 14 MPH with mostly cloudy conditions.

The relative humidity in the city where Dave Matthews used to play for five dollars a night (semi-true story!) is at 44 percent.

In other parts of the world, it is about 82 degrees in Bursa, Turkey, 81 degrees in Puebla, Mexico, and 84 degrees in Billings, Montana (wow, it sure is hot out west too!).

SIDEBAR: We were joking the other day about the ambassador to Syria being on "The Charlie Rose Show" the other night. But, the joke was on us as we found out through Google that there is apparently no official American ambassador in Damascus at the moment, but Chuck Hunter is the Deputy Chief of Mission there. Imad Moustapha is the current Syrian ambassador in Washington, DC. Tonight, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will be on Charlie Rose.

SIDEBAR TWO: Kudos to our good friend Moviezzz for taking a vacation. He will not be blogging for a while, but we highly suggest that any of you interested in developments in tv or film take a look at his back catalogue. By the time, you're done, you should know which seasons of "The Barbara Stanwyck Show" are available on dvd. *

*-Ok, it's seasons one and two.

Quote of the Week- Elizabeth Taylor

Today we are featuring Elizabeth Taylor as we continue to quip famous Americans in the month of July since the Fourth of July was celebrated earlier in the month. On Wednesdays,we quote French people. I suppose the late American jazz singer Josephine Baker, who lived in France for a long time, could be used for both series!

We are also featuring Paul Newman (1925-2008) her co-star from the cinematic 1958-version of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" on our other blog today.

This quote from Taylor will most assuredly make most of you laugh (we hope!):

"I am a very committed wife. And I should be committed too- for being married so many times"


SIDEBAR: Are you wondering what to do around 11:30 p.m. this evening? Well, if you reside near Chapel Hill, NC, you don't want to watch Charlie Rose interviewing the American ambassador to Syria** and you are big fan of the latest Canadian superhero* Scott Pilgrim, then........

............you can head down to Chapel Hill Comics @ midnight tonight for the release party of "Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour."

The store is offering free posters for the first seven people who dress like Scott Pilgrim.

So, if you reside like 80 miles away in Roanoke Rapids, NC, or South Boston, Va., you better get moving around 9:30 p.m.!

It should be noted that Chapel Hill Comics will actually be closed from 9:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m. tonight, but we imagine the local Starbucks are open until at least 10 p.m.

*-He lives in Toronto, and supposedly he has a gay roomate, which may hurt comic book sales in Provo, Utah

**(we're not sure who's on the Charlie Rose Show tonight and actually we don't know who the ambassador to Syria is. But, if/when we have these tidbits, we'll tweet them for you!).

PSA- Watch More PBS!

Alas, we are bit pressed for time today as I have to go to a talk about how to use the computer for workplace activities---hmm, I don't think this counts.

Anyway, our Public Service Announcement for today is a simple one: Watch more PBS! (that's American public tv for those of you in Bergen, Norway).

While kids can watch Oscar the Grouch (pictured) on "Sesame Street," us adults can watch "The Charlie Rose Show" tonight. Alas, the show's web site did not indicate who the guest was for tonight's show (which airs at 11:30 p.m. in most markets), but they did have Willie Nelson on last night!

Our Person of the Decade- Orhan Pamuk

Given that I am an American of Turkish heritage, the choice of Turkish author Orhan Pamuk ("Snow," "My Name is Red," "The Black Book") is a relatively easy selection for Person of the Decade.

Along with Turkish film director/photographer Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Pamuk has helped Turkey achieve a significant boost in its cultural image abroad at a time when the country is facing political upheaval, due in part to the election of an Islamic political party into office.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul have pledged not to undermine Turkey's secularism countless times, but there is still constant fear that their election does indeed threaten not only Turkey's long-standing separation of mosque and state since 1923, but also the nation's acceptance in the West.

Figures such as Pamuk, who is quite controversial in Turkey, are thus more important than ever.

Pamuk, who grew up and still maintains a partial residence in Istanbul (he splits his time with New York) was featured on a Dec. 28 broadcast of "The Charlie Rose" on PBS, which is available for streaming at Rose's web site: www.charlierose.com

Rather than give an exhaustive biography of Pamuk and his many achievements, including winning the Nobel Prize for literature, I thought I would profile him using his own quotes.

Here is a sample of them:

"I see Turkey's future as being in Europe, as one of many prosperous, tolerant, democratic countries."

"The secularists in Turkey haven't underestimated religion, they just made the mistake of believing that they could control it with the army alone."

"I think perhaps it is a generational thing. I talk to younger people and they say, 'Where is this melancholy city you talk about? My Istanbul is a sunny place.'"

Quote of the Week- Jay Leno

Today, we are quoting four separate late night talk show hosts on our blogs...............there just wasn't room for Charlie Rose.

Here is one from Jay Leno, pictured here with Arsenio Hall (from a 1989 "Rolling Stone" coveR) who alas no longer has a talk show:

"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Thursday Top 10 Lists_ Reasons to Get Up Early

The name of this blog "The Daily Vampire" does not stem from the fact that I turn into a bat and suck blood from people's necks, but rather because I simply do not keep normal hours. I teach in the afternoon, so I have developed a habit of going to bed late and then in turn getting up some time after 9 a.m.

So, today, I am starting my Thursday Top 10 list with 10 Reasons to Go to Bed (In reverse order):

10. Charlie Rose stimulates the mind too much, and his show can cause one to feel obliged to read books or magazines they don't have time for anyway.

9. They will play the same crappy songs you listen to on the radio during the day- there will just be more annoying ads.

8. You can get in those laps at the local YMCA pool that you continously neglect.

7. They will still not know if Tom Perriello won his seat over that fill-in-the-blank Cong. Virgil Goode (R-Va) when you wake up (Tom is up by 31 votes. It is one of the very few undecided races from yesterday in the whole country).

6. You can spend less time staring at the ceiling and asking yourself ridicilious questions, like "What if I had gone out with Amanda or Dawn in college? Or Laura in high school? Or that girl in third grade whose name you have forgotten."


5. You can eat Special K and Grape Nuts at a normal hour.

4. You can see movies which will actually cultivate you as opposed to something like "Werewolves on Wheels."

3. You can waste valuable hours of daylight blogging just as well.

2. There is no need to read "Naked Lunch" for a seventh time, is there?

1. There is a chance you might actually remember the dream you had about making love to Natalie Portman.