(10 for 10; 2nd Entry): Our Most Popular Blog Entries: Silly Dog Photo to Fill Space

Greetings to our blog readers in Guatemala, Slovakia, and Saudi Arabia.........whoops, sorry about the hot dog image!

In our ten years of blogging, we have often been surprised and some times stunned by which entries prove to be more popular than others. When I posted an entry about hot dogs, as in two dogs dressed like hot dogs (center image), on August 18, 2009, from a small town library in North Carolina, I never could have imagined that it would yield more hits than any entry we posted before or since.

Because our blog is, for some reason, popular in Russia and Ukraine, I suppose it's not shocking that our blog entry with a quote from the legendary gymnast Svetlana Boginskaya, (top image) who competed for the Soviet Union on her native Belarus, became popular, but it's still surprising that it got over 5,000 hits.

Another popular entry with a quote from a celebrity was one from Feb. 9, 2009, featuring reality tv show Heidi Montag ("The Hills") who endorsed John McCain for president, and that apparently wasn't enough for the Republican Arizona senator to get enough votes to win over Barack Obama.

Our second most popular entry featured Mr. Potato Head (pict. bottom), which still seems popular almost five years after its posting as it inches towards the 20,000-hit mark.

Here are our most six most popular blog entries, with links to those entries (alas some photos from the entries have been removed from the net):

1. Silly Photo to Fill Space-Hot Dogs. Aug. 18,2009. 21,464 hits.

2. Bonus Silly Photo to Fill Space-Mr. Potato Head. Dec. 10, 2010. 19,985 hits
http://nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com/2010/12/bonus-silly-photo-to-fill-space-mr.html

3. PSA-Don't Drink and Drive. May 27, 2010. 13,240 hits.

4. Quote of the Day: Heidi Montag. Feb. 9, 2009. 7,928 hits.

5. Quote of the Day: Svetlana Boginskaya. April 19, 2012. 5,250 hits
http://nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com/2012/04/quote-of-dayweek-svetlana-boginskaya.html

6. Political Confusion Test (21 of 21)_ The Oak Ridge Boys vs. The Village People. Aug. 14, 2009. 5,142 hits

http://nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com/2009/08/political-confusion-test-21-of-21.html

Quotes from the Little Thinkers (4 of 16): Frida Kahlo

Greetings to our blog-readers in Denmark, Italy and Hungary (we seem to be more popular in Europe than we are here in American, well..........perhaps!).

Today we quote the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who died at a relatively young age when she was 47. There is a very popular restaurant in Antigua, Guatemala, called Frida's. Apparently, getting a seat for a Duke University men's basketball game in Durham, NC, is easier than getting a seat at Frida's.

Recently, we saw a Frida Kahlo Little Thinker doll alongside the likes of Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali at the Denver Museum (if memory serves us correctly) where there is a currently an exhibit of French impressionist art (ie. Claude Monet) until Feb. 9th.

One may also be able to find a Frida Kahlo plush toy at the Corcoran Art Museum's gift shop in Washington, DC, where an exhibit entitled "Mia Feur: An Unkindness" in underway. The museum's web site describes that exhibit as 'an examination of the relationships between human infrastructure and the natural world."

Here is our quote from Frida Kahlo:

"I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality."

 
http://www.corcoran.org

http://www.denverartmuseum.org

http://www.fridakahlo.com

http://www.fridakahlofans.com

http://www.visitguatemala.com

An Ice Storm in Any Language

Greetings to our blog-readers in Kazakhstan, Italy and Guatemala. We hope the weather is better where you are. Here in the mid-atlantic part of the United States we are experiencing ice storms, especially in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.

So, we thought we'd google the various words for ice storm in other parts of the globe; our personal favorite terms are isstorm (Norwegian and Swedish), which we actually put into Google and buz firtinasi, which is the Turkish word for ice storm.

Here is the list:

1) eisstrum (German)

2) tempete de glace (French)

3) buz firtinasi (Turkish)

4) tormenta de nieve (Spanish)

5) isstorm (Norwegian and Swedish)

6) gradobice (Polish)

7) snezha burya (Bulgarian)

8) isslag  (Danish)

Strange Dreams Indeed: Michael Caine Shines My Shoes in Guatemala

Right now , the whole world, perhaps even barefoot children in the Seychelles, are paying attention to Princess Kate Middleton having a royal baby, but here were are discussing our weird dream.

Last week, one member of our staff, had a dream in which Michael Caine turned out to be a shoe-shiner in Antigua, Guatemala.

When I recognized him, he said: "Nobody has noticed me all week."

I replied: "You're one of my favorite actors."

Caine: "Which film of mine do you like most"

Me: "(Long Pause) Educating Rita, maybe."

Caine: "Oh, that was the movie that I got on an Oscar nomination for, but Robert Duvall won instead."

Me: "Yeah, wasn't he great in Tender Mercies"

Caine: "Get someone else to shine your shoes."

Silly Photo of the Day- Day Without Shoes Day 2013

 

Even though we are politically liberal here at "The Daily Vampire" (apologies to Oak Ridge Boys fans), we are not inclined to take part in Day Without Shoes Day, although we are taking a yoga class at the Northern Arizona Yoga Center in Flagstaff, Ariz., later today (this is a joke: Though there is an actual place called the Northern Arizona Yoga Center, we don't live anywhere near Flagstaff_ not even in the same time zone).

 

The day is meant to recognize starving children in places like Ghana, Guatemala and Tahiti (well, we suppose rich people also go around barefoot there).

 

With this in mind, we are featuring an image of the British women's beach volleyball player Zara Dampney, who has one of the few professions where one can go to work barefoot every day!

 

SIDEBAR: On a more serious note, we want to take a moment to recognize the three people killed and scores more who were injured in yesterday's bomb blast at the Boston Marathon. For me personally, this brings to mind Amanda Rigg, a 22-year-old Australian tourist who was killed in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sept. 10, 2001, the day before September 11th. I was in close proximity to that blast and I will never forget it. We wrote a story about Rigg in a 2011 entry here:

 

http://nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com/2011/09/ten-years-later-remembering-australian.html

 

 

Other links:

 

http://www.northernarizonayogacenter.com

 

http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com

 

Quote of the Week/Day- Frida Kahlo

We continue our month-long series of quips from famous Latin Americans with a quote from the legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), who died a mere week after her 47th birthday, but she had been ill for a very long time before that.

When I was in Antigua, Guatemala, back in 2005, I noticed there was a trendy place called Frida's, which had like a two-hour wait. I've gathered from other people who have visited Guatemala that essentially it is easier to get a bar stool at 419 West, a popular gathering place in my hometown of Roanoke, Va., during happy hour on Fridays.

Here is the quote from Frida:

"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly."

SIDEBAR: It's that time of the year again. Actually, I was not thinking about Christmas, but rather that the popular funky Chapel Hill, NC-based band Southern Culture on the Skids will be performing their annual hometown charity show on Saturday night at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro (a suburb of Chapel Hill); the band also plays on Friday night at Ziggy's in Winston-Salem, NC.

Qoute of the Week- K.D. Lang

In the Whoops Department, this entry was originally contain a quote from Bryan Adams as we intended to quote k.d. Lang (we believe she deliberately using lower-case letters for her first name) on the sister blog.

But, either way, both are Canadian and they both recently had birthdays.

Lang turned 50 on Nov. 2 and Adams turned 52 on Nov. 5; Lang is from Edmonton and Adams is from the Toronto-area.

In addition to being a vocal gay rights advocate, Lang is a vegan, which makes this quip from her very appropriate (ironically I heard a radio ad for meat while getting this entry together):

"If you knew how meat was made, you'd probably lose your lunch."

SIDEBAR: Though I haven't traveled outside the United States as often as I did when I was a child, I have in recent years visited Azerbaijan (in 2008) and Guatemala (in 2005) and I experienced some minor inconveiences with Internet service in both countries. But, apparently Liberia has been one of the worst places to get net service. According to the PRI show "The World," which airs on many NPR stations in America, that may soon change thanks to an underwater cable.

Local residents of Monrovia, the Liberian capital, told reporters for the program that they had to pay two dollars an hour at Internet cafes (which given the country's poverty would be equal to an American paying $20/hour), and that one hour of service has usually meant a mere 20 minutes of net time.

Special Quote of the Day- Marcel Proust

First of all, we want to wish everyone in France a Happy Bastille Day. Secondly, we want to arbitrarily mention Rupert Murdoch, Casey Anthony and fringe right-wing nutcase Michele Bachmann so we can use three trending topics and increase our hit count for the day.

We'd also love to make fun of the Mormon missionary from Utah who made the very unwise decision to climb a concrete wall to pose with a pair of lions at the Guatemala City Zoo (I've actually been there), but since the lions attacked the 20-year-old missionary and he is hurting (to put it mildly), we will alas have to play nice.

Oh, we almost forgot to talk about Harry Potter! Is there anyone out there who is actually going to dress like a wizard for a midnight screening tonight?

They are showing a midnight screening premiere for the latest installment of the eight film series at the Grandin Theatre in my hometown of Roanoke, Va., tonight.

For Bastille Day, we are going to quote the great novelist/essayist Marcel Proust
(1871-1922), who is frequently quoted in "Zippy the Pinhead" comic strips:

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."

Things We Learned From the BBC This Week- Beloved Gorilla Dies

Some sad news was reported on the BBC this week as the beloved lowlands gorilla Samantha (not the gorilla pictured here) died after suffering a stroke at The Toronto zoo. She was 37, and was one of the first gorillas housed in the Canadian zoo.

Samantha, a native of the African country of Gabon, was put to sleep after suffering a second stroke in two months. She had lived in the zoo since 1974 when she was two years old.

The gorilla produced five offspring, two of which remain at The Toronto Zoo, with her mate Charles, a silverback gorilla.

Matt Stephenson, the zoo's gorilla keeper said he would deeply miss Samantha, especially her singing at breakfast and dinner time.

The lowland gorillas are an endangered species.

The Toronto Zoo is dedicating its home page with a header that says Samantha (1972-2010) and the zoo is asking for donations to make a memorial in her honor.

SIDEBAR: It has now admittedly become a running joke on this blog, but I am going to name Springfield High School of Springfield, Vermont, as our 'High School of the Week." Currently, I have been naming three American high schools as my "High School of the Week" on both of my blogs.

As silly as this may seem to those of you visiting this blog, especially from places like Eskisehir, Turkey, or Antigua, Guatemala, but I have learned quite a bit from doing this.

Springfield, Vt., made international news in 2007 when it was picked as the town to host the world premiere of "The Simpsons Movie."

As for the school, it is nicknamed The Springfield High School Cosmos, which makes it only the second time I've ever heard 'Cosmos' used for a nickname. The other time was for the New York Cosmos, a professional soccer team from the long-defunct NASL, which went under in the 1980s. The NY Cosmos were famous for bringing Pele to America.

Springfield High School also has some 500 students. "The Green Horn" is the school newspaper. The school web site states that much of the school lunch comes from local farms.

Bob Thibault is the new school principal, and The Cosmos host The Poultney BlueDevils in football on Sept. 3.

Quote of the Day- Frida Kahlo

I must profess when my girlfriend Louisa (pse) left me for an unemployed car mechanic in Duluth, Minn., that she meet on the Internet, she did cite the fact that I spent way too much time blogging as a factor!

So, it should be no surprise to those who know me well that I am devoting 32 quotes from 32 people, both alive and dead, from the 32 countries in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which starts (yikes?!) tomorrow with a game between the host country and Mexico that will air at 9:30 a.m. in Boston and Miami (and the rest of the American east coast as well as places like Toronto, Canada).

Today, we feature a quote from the late Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) who was the subject of the film "Frida" (2002) which starred Mexican actress Salma Hayek in the title role.

Frida is popular not in Mexico but throughout Central America as there is a popular restaurant named Frida's in Antigua, Guatemala, that we couldn't get into because there was a long, long line waiting outside (?!) when we there in 2005. We've since read from travel writers that many Americans who go to Guatemala have trouble getting a seat in this restaurant, which is known for its cocktails and quesadillas.

As for the painter Frida, she was known for her Realism, Symbolism and Surrealism. She was also a bisexual and a communist, which made her life, as tragic as it was, even more interesting!

She was married to fellow Mexican artist Diego Rivera. And, she had affairs with the African-American singer Josephine Baker as well as the Russian socialist leader Leon Trotsky, who was murdered in 1940 while in exile in Mexico. Trotsky also lived for a while in Turkey. My late Turkish aunt happened to spend her summer residence on the island of Buyukada off the coast of Istanbul where Trotsky lived in the late '20s and early '30s before heading off to Mexico.

Frida also suffered from massive injuries that she suffered from a bus accident which happened when she was 18. Those injuries haunted her for the rest of her life. She died under mysterious circumstances, and there is much speculation that she committed suicide.

An exhibit of Frida's paintings is currently taking place at a museum in Berlin, Germany--- a city where one can also see Knut the Polar Bear (at the Berlin Zoo, of course!).

Here is today's quote from Frida:

"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?"