Our Top 10 from the Sunday Washington Post: WuMo's Take on Noah's Ark

Greetings to our blog readers in England, Slovakia, and Cameroon........

Our top two Sunday comic strips from the June 14th "Washington Post" issue both refer to the Bible. As "WuMo" features two cheetahs who want to get on board Noah's Ark and "The Argyle Sweater" includes a take on what the childhood of Biblical characters experience including John the Baptist being nearly drowned the Jerusalem Public Pool.

Third place goes to our friend Keith Knight and his strip "Knight Life" features mom, dad, and an older brother giving an infant advice.

Other strips in the top ten include a  "Candorville" with a satirical look at arguing with those who supported the Iraq War promoted in and planned by George W. Bush, "Lio" building a model giraffe, and a brief history of wasps from "Mark Trail."

Here is the top 10:

1. WuMo

2. The Argyle Sweater

3. Knight Life

4. Frazz

5. Foxtrot

6. Candorville

7. Lio

8. Speed Bump

9: Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

10. Mark Trail


http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

http://www.gocomics.com

Tweets on Situation in Turkey, 3rd Entry

Since those of who have opposed Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have referred to him as 'The Turkish Bush' for years. Here is a look at the civic unrest in Turkey which going on into its fourth day:


1. Kaan Besinci: Oh my god! Erdogan was right! Terrorists! Hooligans! (we suspect this is a tweet in jest)

2. Emre Peker: "Some #occupygezi protestors clearing debris off the street of Dolmabahce by Inonu Stadium to clear road for cars."

3. Emre Saglam: "Sleep well dear Turkish media! You will be remembered as traitors. Enjoy your place in the hisotry.......#occupygezi"

4. Tayfun Eker: "The Turkish Government is killing the Turkish citizens. Police violence turned into hateful police authority."

5. Aysun Yurel: "Can't sleep and fearing for the safety of my friends' lives for the last two days.......Stop the violence! Just stop it! #occupygezi"

6. Elif Batuman: "I wrote about #occupygezi for @tnynewsdesk and it almost killed me. Respect to all the reporters out there!"

7. Witchy: "What's happening in #Turkey is a very good example of how quickly things can change when change seems almost impossible."

PS: We are listening to an excellent radio piece on the BBC about Azerbaijan and the country's territorial struggles with Armenia and domestic problems with the dictatorial government in Baku.

Monday Night Pre-Debate Tweets: Can Dogs Decide the Election?

Hmmm.....there are no images here which actually match tonight's presidential debate in Boca Raton, Fla., which will focus on foreign policy...oh well!

The reasons why we are featuring images of a Scottish terrier, the cast of "Freaks and Guns," reruns of which are still on The Sundance Channel and a Cayman blue iguana will soon be revealed....just scroll down....


Here are tonight's tweets:

1) @Albertbrooks (Albert Brooks, a comedian/actor/film director/novelist): "Going to watch the debate tonight with 12 undecided voters, well actually they're dogs." (Yes, that's the reason for the Scottish terrier, which was the breed of George W. Bush's White House dog).

2) @WSJ ("Wall Street Journal"): "Bad news for nerds. Popular kids in high school earn 10% more 40 years after graduation." (Yes, that's the reason for the image of the "Freaks and Geeks" cast).

3) @HuffingtonPost (Huffington Post): "Grand Cayman's blue iguanas no longer listed as critically endangered" (yes, that's the reason for the blue iguana).

4) @ABC11_WTVD (WTVD is Raleigh, NC's ABC affilaite): "Obama camp says battle for NC is not over. Romney's team telling us the president's campaign yanking ads from the state."

5) @JenGanholm (Jennifer Granholm is a former Democratic Michigan governor and a tv show host on Current TV): "John Kerry: Mitt Romney has 'Rosetta Stone' foreign policy."

6) @Dailykos (Daily Kos, a liberal blog): "Open thread: Lesley gore tells Romney: 'You Don't Own Me," this is in reference to pop singer Lesley Gore from yesterday who had hit song "You Don't Own Me," at first we thought she was one of Al Gore's daughters....good thing we googled Lesley Gore!

7) @MarketPlaceAPM ("Market Place" is a daily radio show airing on most NPR stations): "Yes, it's true. Some voters are still undecided. Lynn @Vavreck on why some voters haven't picked a pony yet." (The segment said that women voters were more undecided than male voters due to household pressures).

8) @thenation ("The Nation" is a liberal magazine): "Romney campaign, media collude in unprecedented politicization of Benghazi, Libya, affair."


http://www.caymanislands.ky

http://www.albertbrooks.com

http://www.sundancechannel.com

http://www.current.com

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.stca.biz (Scottish Terrier Association of America)

Quote of the Day/Week-Gerald Ford

Today, we continue quoting the last eight American presidents with a quip from Gerald Ford (1913-2006) who was the 38th president and the one who lived in the longest. At the present time, the oldest living American president is George H.W. Bush with a Jimmy Carter (both born in 1924), who defeated Ford in the 1976 presidential election, being a close second.

There has been quite a political shift in the South since Carter, who was from Plains, Georgia, won over Ford, who was from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where his presidential library is located. In 1976, Carter won ever southern state except Virginia. All southern states had voted for George W. Bush in his two narrow elections, but in 2008, both Virginia and North Carolina voted for President Barack Obama over Sen. John McCain.

In pop culture, Ford was frequently parodied by "Saturday Night Live" actor Chevy Chase, who ironically became addicted to pain killers because of the prat falls he made while impersonating Ford.

Here is Ford's quote:

"I love sports. Whenever I can, I always watch the Detroit Tigers on the radio." http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.org

SIDEBAR: We forgot to mention last week that the answer to our April 17th edition of "The Rabbit Ear Quiz" was A) Robert Vaughn; he hosted the initial pilot episode of "In Search of...." which was hosted by Leonard Nimoy for the rest of the documentary tv show's run.

Quote of the Day/Week-Ronald Reagan

Today, we are continuing to quote the last eight presidents (the other four quotes are on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time") not to be confused with my sister's blog, well actually she does not have one.

And, the subject of quote today is from Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)

Some trivia before we get to our quote. Reagan was also a Hollywood actor and his last film was "The Killers" (1964, dir. Don Siegel) in which he played a mob boss, a role that was originally considered for the late Walter Mathau.

Reagan was played by eight different actors on "Saturday Night Live" including the late Phil Hartman, Robin Williams (guest host), Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, Charles Rocket, Harry Shearer, Kevin Nealon and Joe Piscopo, who was the only "SNL" star to play both Reagan and President Jimmy Carter.

In the controversial tv film "The Reagans" (2003), Reagan was played by James Brolin. Five years later, Brolin's son Josh Brolin played another president, George W. Bush in Oliver Stone's "W" (2008).

Here is Reagan's quote:

"All great change in America begins at the dinner table."

Quote of the Day/Week- John McCain

It seems that politics both here in the United States in Turkey, my late father's country, is always filled with irony.

Since I was very apprehensive about the possibility of a George W. Bush presidency in 2000 and I had sincere admiration for Sen. John McCain (R-Az.), even though I am a Democrat, I crossed party lines and voted for McCain who did in fact lost to Bush and (forgive the partisan commentary) my worst fears were fully realized.

I did actually end up voting for Al Gore in the general election of 2000.

Eight years later, I voted for Hillary Clinton in the North Carolina Democratic Party and later Barack Obama in the general election. Thus, I am perhaps one of the very few people who have voted for McCain, Obama and Hillary Clinton (I voted for her husband twice as well).

Though he has become more conservative and less rebellious in recent years, I still admire McCain personally, especially since he had the courage to go after Rush Limbaugh in light of the far-right talk show host's sexist comments controversy.

Today, McCain was in the news for publicly slamming the media for going overboard in regards to the 'Etch-A-Sketch' gaffe made by Mitt Romney aide Eric Fehrstorm on CNN yesterday.

Here is the quote from McCain, 75, whose daughter Meghan McCain sent waves when admitted that she liked sex; we expect that would even make Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who is believed to be one of the most liberal U.S. Senate members, blush:

"I don't doubt the sincerity of my Democratic friends. And they shouldn't doubt ours."

SIDEBAR: While the nation is abuzz with the Sweet 16 games underway tonight in Division One men's college basketball, over the weekend, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (29-4) beat Cabrini College (31-2) from Radnor Township, Pa., 63-60 for the Division Three basketball title in my hometown of Salem,Va., last weekend. The other two teams in that Final Four were MIT and Illinois Wesleyan. Chris Davis lead the winning Warhawks with 12 points; John Boyd scored 18 points for the losing Cavaliers.

Highlights from My 40 Things To Do List

Yes, I did actually make a 40 Things To Do List. No, I don't think I will all these things accomplished in a week, but I will try. This is actually a throw-back to what I did in my early days of blogging, back in 2005.

I did post grocery lists, and much to my shock, those entries were more popular than my political entries regarding my opposition to capital punishment or how George W. Bush was going to gradually destroy the world, which did more or less actually happen. But, we must give the man credit, they did build a statue of him in Albania (no joke). Of course, I'm not sure how this will help them with tourism.


So, here are some highlights of the list. The images go with the first three items on the list, paying bills, class reunion and buying gorceries. The number in parantheses is actually where the item was on my list. Of course, the more personal stuff will not be listed! (well, except number 8):


1. Pay bills (#1)

2. Go to college class reunion at Radford University (#11)

3. Get some groceries: be sure to get some Jarritos Mexican sodas (#22)

4. Write a short play (#4)

5. Use the laptop more often; you paid enough for the stupid thing (#9)

6. Recycle (#23)

7. Use LinkedIn more often (#28)

8. Forget about Angie*, if you never hear from her again, you can always join a Turkish liberal human secularist singles group (well, anything beats e-harmony!).
(#29)

9. Donate money to local NPR station, or least five dollars (#34)

10. Take fall foliage photos when the opportunity permits itself (#36)

*-Not her real name

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Halloween Dogs

If there is one thing about Americans which might make folks in Qom, Iran, Basra, Irag, or Pyongyang, North Korea (Forgive the political humor: I had to use the Axis of Evil countries to make fun of George W. Bush), it might well be our obsession with dogs.

There are lots of dogs and even some cats in very amusing photos in the current edition of "The Washingtonian."

While this is not from that magazine, it nevertheless is amusing.

And, with college football season in full-swing, one has to wonder if Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and Northwestern will lobby the NCAA to join the Ivy League (the joke here for those of you in Axis of Evil nations is that these schools seem to be more interested in academics than athletics hence they may have even more problems competing in high sweepstakes sports than ever before)! Personally, if I were the dog, I'd go with Vanderbilt.

Happy Belated 50th Birthday to President Barack Obama

Everyone from the far-right nuts at Fox News to the very liberal idealists at "The Nation" seem to be criticizing President Barack Obama, but I'm fairly pleased. However, even though I'm a fairly partisan Democrat (in the South, most Republican are Yosemite Sam gun nuts, radical Chicken Little evangelists or militant patriots with American flag shower curtains or a combination of the three, perhaps it's differnt in Maine. Then again, maybe not!) I must find his Blackberry obsession a bit annoying.

I actually first heard the term Blackberry in reference to George H.W. Bush, who we like to call Papa Smurf here. As ironic as the world is, perhaps Obama blackberries Papa Smurf more than George W. Bush does. Where is he these days? Yeah, I imagine he is on a power lawnmower in Crawford, Texas, too!

At any rate, happy belated 50th birthday to President Obama. We gather from Politico.com and NPR's "All Things Considered" that he had quite a bash with Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Tom Hanks and Tim Kaine, the former governor of Virginia and now official U.S. Senate candidate on-hand.

Quote of the Day- Noam Chomsky

Today's quote comes form one of America's leading liberal activist Noam Chomsky, 82, also a philosopher, who has (according to Wikipedia) described himself as a libertarian socialist.

Chomsky got considerable recognition during the 1960s for his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War which was articulated in his 1967 essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals."

In 1988, Chomsky, along with fellow activist Edward S. Herman came out with the book "Manufacturing Consent..." which was highly critical of mass media and its Orwellian ability to influence people's decisions.

I have agreed with Chomsky on some issues and differed with him on others, especially the notion he proposed during the Iraq War, that America, Israel and Turkey (my late father's country) were the real 'axis of evil.' But, like him, I was very opposed to the Iraq War and the George W. Bush presidency.

Ironically a conservative friend of mine in North Carolina is an admirer of Chomsky! But, by the same token, I have a profound interest in Richard Nixon even though I would have probably voted for his opponent George McGovern had I not been two years old in 1972.

Recently, "The Nation" sold a Gnome Chomsky, a gnome shaped liked Noam chomsky, for a fund-raising item. And, Chomsky is prominently featured on shows that air on Link-TV.

Here is today's quip from Chomsky:

"Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody is saying, or else you say something true, and it will sound like it's from Neptune."

Happy Oscar Hangover Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

DC Diary- Michelle Obama's Inauguration Gown

When we posted an entry with a quote from former president George H.W. Bush, aka Papa Smurf, we mentioned that there was an exhibit of first ladies gowns at his presidential library in College Station, Tex.

Thus, I was quite surprised when we stumbled a similar exhibit at the Smithsonian American History Museum during our family trip to Washington, DC, in the first phase of our excursion.

There were two gowns which stood out. One was surprisingly the purple inauguration gown worn by Laura Bush, Papa Smurf's daughter-in-law.

The other was the amazing white gown by our current First Lady Michelle Obama, which neither a Romanian gymnast nor a contestant on "The Biggest Loser" could possibly fit into. The dress illustrated just how tall Michelle Obama is as well as how tight her figure is. I am certainly no fashion expert, and as a heterosexual man my interest in such things is fairly limited. But, this gown, complete with the white Jimmy Choo high heel shoes, left quite an impression.

Later in the trip, we went to the Smithsonian National Science Museum where we saw an exhibit with ancient artifacts from the politically divided island nation of Cyprus, located between Greece, Turkey and Lebanon.

My sister and I were really intrigued by the digs especially since we had been to the Turkish/northern part of Cyprus back in 1993. We even saw a photo of a cathedral that had been converted into a mosque that we visited in the port city of Famagusta, where I almost got hit by a car since the Cypriots (Turks and Greeks alike) drive 'The British Way,' which is quite challenging for pedestrians!

A funny moment happened when I was looking at a female nude statue and a guard yelled. I thought it was Orwellian mind-reading at its best, but the culprit he was after turned out to be a Japanese tourist who was sneakingly taking a photograph of a bronze statue behind me.

This concludes my special series on our adventures and misadventures during our week in Washington, DC, which took place between Christmas and New Year's Eve.

There are more entries about the trip on my other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

Just for the record, my brother-in-law and my sister are not named Sven and Eva Thomasson, nor do they reside in Goteborg, Sweden. This was meant to be a bit of an in-joke between my sister and I, but when my mother heard about my little prank, she pretty much threatened to sell the family cat on Craig's List (that is a joke too!).

Sofia Coppola Likes John Hughes Movies

According to the current issue of "Film Comment," our favorite film magazine/journal (but, like "Cineaste" too), film director Sofia Coppola, best known for her film "Lost Translation" with Bill Murray (see image above), recently watched the 'classic' John Hughes' film "Sixteen Candles" (1984).

The comedy film starring Molly Ringwald was number nine on her "The Last 10 Films I've Seen" list, which we are not printing in its entirety to avoid a potential federal cease and desist lawsuit from Gavin Smith (the editor of "Film Comment). But, we will mention that other films on the list included "The Social Network," Never Let Me Go," "Greenberg," and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," which surprised us too!

SIDEBAR: There are a whole host of special screenings going on in Virginia and North Carolina. My good friend Jason Garnett will be screening the vintage 2003 good/bad movie "The Room" on Nov. 22 and 24 at 7:00 at the Shadowbox Cinema in Roanoke, Va.

Closer to home, my friend Joe Scott will be screening the vintage 1984 Prince film "Purple Rain" this Thursday at the Carousel Luxury Cinemas in Greensboro, NC, at 7:30 and 10:00 p.m.

Lastly, the classic 1969 Oscar-winning film "Midnight Cowboy" with Dustin Hoffman and hippie turned tea bagger Jon Voight will be shown at the Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, for a week-long run starting on Friday.

SIDEBAR TWO: George W. Bush's new memoir, a book I will not be reading (I'm a hippie turned coffee partier), is apparently a tough book to sell in San Francisco, so Green Apple Books, a San Fran book shop, will be giving all funds from the sale of the book to veterans, according to "San Francisco Weekly."

Silly Picture to Fill Space- The Chia Pet

I promised a friend of mine in Martinsville, Va., that I would be posting an image of the chia pet as part of our Silly Picture to Fill Space series. I'm not sure that he actually believed me, but here it is!

While researching this piece, I found out that the chia pet first hit the market in 1982. You are supposed to water some moistened seeds which allows the green substance to fully grow.

There are now licensed chia pets for Garfield, The Looney Tunes and The Simpsons.

In addition, one can supposedly find chia pets for both Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Hopefully, there are no Sarah Palin chia pets on the market quite yet!

Tweet of the Moment-We Love This One!

I jokingly tell folks that I might be a Republican.....in Berkeley, Calif., but even on Sept. 12, 2001, I had a very hard time supporting this particular president. Nevertheless, we loved this tweet from "L.A. Weekly," which was actually posted on Thursday:

"Fox News just called the UK election for Bush."

To be honest, I'm a bit confused about the elections in the United Kingdom, and I watched the BCC News on Thursday night!

"LA Weekly" also reported that a teacher in Burbank, Calif., got a two-year sentence for having sex with a minor. Not good!

Silly Picture to Fill Space- The Easter Bunny and W

This should be a reminder to Tea Partiers, far right evangelicals, dittoheads, Chuck Norris fans and even far left idealists (the Michael Moore crowd) that things were so MUCH worse when George W. Bush was president....weren't they?!!!!