Top 10 Comics Washington Post: WuMo Gets Political (well, sort of....)

Greetings to our readers in Azerbaijan, Qatar and Chile....

Happy 70th birthday to Turkan Soray, the queen of Turkish cinema..........

The highlights include "WuMo" making fun of DC lobbyists as fat cats, a perfect strip for the Post (Image #1 is of politician turned lobbyist Trent Lott, a Republican who still spends more time on Capitol Hill than in Biloxi), "Lio" illustrating how a big spider gets everyone's attention (image #2 is a tarantula) and 3) a frustrating phone call with a cable company rep in "Candorville" (Image #3 of the 1996 Jim Carrey black comedy).....

Here are our top ten comic strips from today's Washington Post:

1. WuMo

2. Lio

3. Rhymes with Orange

4. Brewster Rockit

5. Pearls Before Swine

6. Candorville

7. Speed Bump

8. Sherman's Lagoon

9. Knight Life

10. Prickly City

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

http://www.gocomics.com

http://www.denverpost.com/comics

Last Ten Films We've Seen- The Michael Caine Version

Since we love the series 'Last Ten I've Seen' in the monthly cinema magazine "Film Comment," we occasionally do films that those of us here in 'the office' in Hartford, Connecticut,* have seen lately. Javier the Intern** is really into Japanese Godzilla movies, bu he's been busy these days.

First of all, let's go over the images:

1) A fineral limo- the French film "Holy Motors" (film #1) has some of these, email Javier the Inern for an explanation.

2) The burqini- we are bascially doing this for our reades in Cairo, Doha and Dubai, for the film "Spring Breakers," (film #6) not to be confused with the 1983 teen sex film "Spring Break." We assume both films are hard to find in Eqygt, Qatar and Dubai.

3) A brass teapot for "The Brass Teapot," (film #10)  a new indie film with Juno Temple that screened recently at the River Run Film Festival in Winston-Salem, NC; we need to ask Ken Farmer of "Antiques Roadshow," an auctioneer from Radford, Va., how much this teapot is worth. Actually, we'll ask Javier to do it!

Here is the list:

1. "Holy Motors" (France. dir-Leos Carax. 2012)

2. "Cosmopolis" (Canada. dir-David Cronenberg. 2012)

3. "Elmer Ganry" (dir-Richard Brooks. 1960)

4. "The Day of the Dolphin dir-Mike Nichols. 1973)

5. "This Is Not a Film" (Iran. dir-Jafar Panahi 2011)

6.  "Spring Breakers" (dir-Harvey Korine. 2012)

7. "Alfie" (the Michael Caine version; UK. dir- Lewis Gilbert. 1966)

8. "The Company You Keep" (dir-Robert Redford 2012)

9. Wake in Fright (Australia. dir-ted Kotcheff. 1971)

10. "The Brass Teapot" (dir. Ramma Mosley. 2012)

*-We are not actually in Hartford, but we are in the same time zone

**-Javier the Intern is a fictional character who has 'been working' for us for four years now

http://www.filmcomment.com

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com (Our sister blog)

http://www.kfauctions.com

http://www.riverrunfilm.com

http://www.michaelcaine.com

Parade of Nations (three of four)_ Algeria-Ukraine

Today, we continue with the flag-bearers and their respective countries. Since there is a lot going on at one time at the 2012 London Olympics, we cannot verify if each athlete has started competing though all team-sports ranging from water polo to handball (the only sport without an American team/athlete) are under way.

Here are eight countries ranging from Algeria to Ukraine:

Algeria: Abdelhafid Benchabla (men's boxing)

India: (pictured top, Sushil Kumar, wrestling)

Israel: Shahar Tzuberi (men's wind-surfing)

Ireland: Katie Taylor (pictured middle, women's boxing- a new sport at the Olympics this year)

Qatar: Bahiya Al-Hamad (women's shooting)*

Romania: Horia Tecau (pictured bottom, tennis)

Switzerland: Stanislas Wawrinka (men's tennis)

Ukraine: Roman Hontiuk (men's judo)

*_ This is the first year that Qatar has had a female athlete competing at the Olympics, along with two other Muslim countries Saudi Arabia and Brunei. Bahiya Al-Hamad has also been getting a fair share of media attention because she wears a head scarf while competing,

50 Beers Around the World_ Baltika from Russia (#37 of 50)

Greetings from the Davie Street Parking Garage in downtown Greensboro, NC, where we have found a way to post an entry today on our laptop (eyes rolling!).

Our latest entry in our 50 Beers Around the World series takes up to Russia where a Canadian performing of mine is currently touring the country (must be nice, I would settle for Moscow, Idaho!); and, hopefully during her downtime she can send postcards to friends who are back home in Halifax, Nova Scotia (not actually where she is from, but we love to make fun of Nova Scotia).

Russia is also where one can take in a Baltika beer (you should drink responsibily of course even if Russians never do!). Even though beer will always be second to vodka in the good ole USSR (forgive the dated Cold War humor), Baltika somehow has the second largest brewery in Europe after the Dutch beer Heineken.

Baltika also competes for customers in Baku, Azerbaijan, with the Turkish beer Efes Pilsen, as the brand does have a brewery in the Caspian Sea nation that was also a part of the CCCP.

Founded in 1990, Baltika is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The beer is brewed in ten cities across Russia and it is available in some 60 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, China and Japan.

Of course, everyone knows Russia has been in the headlines for a positive reason (for a change) as the country is now set to host the 2018 World Cup.

As Americans (well, your's truly is half-Turkish and our intern Javier who does most of our research is from Ecuador.....sorry, Honduras!*), we are bemoaning the fact that we lost our World Cup 2022 bid to the tiny Arab emirate of Qatar. (I would insert a politically incorrect right wing nationalist put down of Muslims and/or Arabs here, but with all due respect to Glenn Beck and our friends at Fox News, we lean to the center-left!).

There are apparently two places in Doha, the Qatari capital where alcohol can be purchased. But, for the masses in not only Qatar, but other Arab emirates, there is always the non-alcoholic Baltika No. 0 (the beer in the green bottle). Of course, we have no idea if this brand is found in Qatar at all. Where is Javier, when we need him?

*-Javier is a fictional person; the joke is that is there is anything factually inaccurate in my posts, I will put the blame on him!