Things We Learned on Web Today: What is a Mittconception?

Since it's a Saturday night, and all us here at "The Daily Vampire" are suffering from some sort of brain parasite that one can only get from cats (this is a joke; though there was an article this year in "The Atlantic" about a Czech scientist who thinks he's discovered such a parasite), we thought we'd try to have some fun.

For starters, we learned the following term from The Urban Dictionary: Mittconception. This a fundamental belief of Mitt Romney, based on mistaken understanding of an issue (one of many).

And, we read some of the following tweets on Twitter. Many are related to yesterday's tragic gun shooting at a cinema in Aurora, Colo. Some are somber; some are serious.

Here they are:

@MaryLowyr1: "Possible solution to gun controversy: Assault weapons stay legal, but only women can buy any of them."

@WSOC_TV (tv station in Charlotte, NC): "Trooper: Alcohol, drugs a factor in 3-vehicle crash."

@MichealIdato: "People killed in one year by guns: Australia: 35, Germany: 194, Canada: 200, USA
9,484. #theatreshooting"

@DenverPost: "UPDATE:  "Friend of #theatreshooting victim Alex Teres says he was 'one of the best men I ever knew.'

@JapanTimes (in reference to North Korea's new dictator, the son of the late Kim Jong II): "Kim Juny Un invites dad's chef back."

http://www.urbandictioanry.com

http://www.twitter.com/clcgoddard

http://www.current.com

http://www.japantimes.co.jp

http://www.mittromney.com

http://www.facebook.com/NotoMittRomney

@Current: "We have to stand up and demand this from our elected officials, if not now, then when? Colin Goddard* on gun laws."

*-Goddard is a survivor of the Virginia Tech shooting massacre which happened in April of 2007.

Quote of the Day/Week- Steve Jobs

Today, we conclude our month-long series of quotes from people who passed away within the calendar year of 2011.


Originally, we were contemplating quoting Kim Jong-Il, the ruthless North Korean dictator whom we actually quoted in 2010 when we were quoting one person from all 32 of the countries in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. We simply couldn't find anyone else from North Korea to quip.

Our quote today though comes from Steve Jobs (1955-2011) who died at age 56 on
Oct. 5, 2011 from complications due to cancer. He was a techno wizard innovator responsible for many gadgets, such as the iPhone, the iPod and the i Pad. He is also the subject of an acclaimed, best-selling biography by Walter Isaacson.


Jobs was also technically (pardon the ironic use of the word) a Middle Eastern American since his biological father was from Syria. Isaacson said that ironically Jobs unknowingly met him as the Syrian immigrant ran a deli near Palo Alto, California,the town with Stanford University where Jobs resided.

Here is the quote:

"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."

Quote of the Day/Week- Augusto Pinochet

We must profess that since we have quoted both Che Guevarra and Fidel Castro this month, we are fearful that Bill O'Reilly will make the subject of scorn and label us as a far-left blog.

So, in order to make things 'fair and balanced,' today we are featuring a quip from the notorious Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (1915-2006), who suppressed and killed many of his own people.

There is a bit of personal connection here as my late uncle Ilhan Gokbudak was actually a Turkish diplomat in Santiago during Pinochet's reign. When I asked Ilhan Amca (amca is the Turkish word for uncle) what the man was like; he said something to the effect of: "Well, he was nice to me."

Here is the quote from Pinochet, who was, by the way, a far-right figure if there ever was one:

"I'm not a dictator. It's just that I have a grumpy face."

SIDEBAR: Today, the world is 'mourning' the loss of another brutal dictator as Kim Jung Il, who was made famous on "South Park" here in the United States, is no longer with us.

My favorite Kim Jung Il story is of how he kidnapped South Korean film director Sang-ok Shin, and forced her to make "Pulgasari" (1985), a Godzilla rip-off that was not shown outside the Korean pennisula until a 1998 screeening in Japan. Today, it is a Youtube sensation.

"Pulgasari" was also shown as part of the "Axis of Evil Film Festival" at Duke University in 2003; the festival, which was currated by Iranian ex-pat Negar Mottahedeh, did actually get targeted by Fox News for being 'liberal academic propaganda.' The festival also included films from Cuba, Libya and Syria.

The term 'axis of evil' is believed to have come from former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum, who has ironically become a voice and ration and reason within the Republican Party. I guess this means he is not endorsing Michele Bachmann.

50 Beers Around the World- Taedonggang from North Korea

Today's entry in the long-running 50 Beers Around the World Series (today we are posting entries number 31 and 32 on our two blogs) is perhaps the longest beer name in the world, Taedonggang Beer from North Korea.

The isolationist nation's brew has only been operational since 2000 when Kim Jong-il decided it was time for a Pyongyang version of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

A commercial for the beer, which has become fairly popular on YouTube, aired on North Korean tv in June of 2009.

The brew is named for the Taedong River that runs through Pyongyang.

And, in case you are wondering what the trendy topics are on Twitter today, they include Playing God (a video game), Green Lantern, and (of course) Prince William and Kate Middletown.

Other trending topics include Oden, which we learned does NOT refer to a Japanese winter dish named Oden but rather Portland Trailblazers star Greg Oden who has apparently suffered a major injury, and Joly, which is an apparent reference to British tv comedian Dom Joly, who is very popular on Twitter.

Quote of the Day- from Portuguese Writer Jose Saramago

Unfortunately, the famed Portuguese writer Jose Saramago, pictured here, died last week at his home in The Canary Islands at the age of 87.

Like many great writers, including the late Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet who lived in Russia and the late American writer William Burroughs who spent many years in Tangiers, Morocco, Saramago was an exiled man. This was mainly due to his political views for Saramago (like Hikmet) was a communist even though the Portuguese writer's exile (from what we gather) was a personal choice.

Saramago's novel "Blindness" had been made into a 2008 film with Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore, and the writer won the first Nobel Prize for Portugal in 1998.

We are featuring Saramgo as one of the 32 people from the 32 countries in the World Cup.

The Portuguese team made headlines on Monday with a 7-0 thumping of North Korea, which assuredly did not go over well at the Kim Jong Il residence in Pyongyang.

As many soccer fans know (and I consider myself a casual one though I did watch virtually every game of the 1978 World Cup which host Argentina won when I was a child while we were living in Turkey), Portugal has a bonafide superstar in Cristiano Ronaldo, whom David Fellerath of "The Independent Weekly" in Raleigh, NC, called 'a glowering metrosexual.' Ronaldo is also starring in a series of tennis shoe ads with Homer Simpson?!


Here is today's quote from Saramago. It is, as one would fully expect, a political one in nature:

"People used to say about me: 'He's good but he's a Communist. Now they say: 'He's a Communist, but he's good."

Quote of the Day- Kim Jong Il (North Korean Dictator)

Today, we continue our 32 quotes from 32 people from the 32 countries in the World Cup with a quip from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il (born 1942), who is apparently a bit of a film fanatic.

In a 2004 issue of "Film Comment," Brian L. Frye wrote that Kim's book "On the Art of the Cinema," which was initially written in 1973, was being republished in America. Frye said: "It's probably the only work of film criticism read exclusively by political scientists."

Kim took over in 1994, and he has made a name for himself on the global stage with his nuclear weapon synanagyns.

But, his country has not fared well at the World Cup though it gave Brazil a much harder game than anyone expected in a 2-1 loss. However, yesterday Portugal scored an astonishing six second half goals to pummel North Korea 7-0. This lead a guy named Bruno who may have been tweeting from Lisbon to say the following on Twitter:
"Kim Jong Il, please do not test your missiles on Portugal."

Here is the quote of the day from a dictator who has also been lampooned by those guys who make "South Park:"

"The revolution is carried out by means of one's thoughts, not through one's family background."

SIDEBAR: We are not sure if there are any Mexican restaurants in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital which has a population of about 2.5 million folks, but there several in Athens, Ga., including three with the local chain, The Taco Stand. One of their restaurants is located at 247 E. Broad Street across from the University of Georgia and it features not only tacos, burritos and queadillas but salsa burgers and chicken finger sandwiches as well.

We also forgot to link our friend Chris Knight's blog "The Knight Shift" yesterday. One can see a video replay of last week's game between The United States and England with Leggos (of all things!) there! BTW, Knight is a rabid Georgia Bulldogs fan, hence the reason we mention The Taco Stand here.