Today's Potluck Quote (5 out of 10): Nadia Comaneci

Today, a writing site asked on Twitter to write a five-word sentence in which an elite athlete takes a change in his or her life. My response was: "Simon Biles converts to Judoism." Yea, I'm not sure how well it might get received either, but with that in mind we quote another Olympic gymnast legend Nadia Comaneci of Romania; her husband Bart Conner runs a gymnastics school in Norman, Okla., a town that is also home to the Oklahoma Sooners, a team that won this year's NCAA college gymnastics championships this year.

Yes, of course, we are writing this in conjunction with the 2012 Rio Olympics! Kudos to current Romanian gymnast Catalina Ponor for coming back to the sport and competing in the Olympics at age 28.

Today, Bob Costas will probably try to boost our enthusiasm for synchronized swimming.

Here is today's potluck quote of the day: "You should also appreciate the goodness around you and surround yourself with positive people."

http://www.bartandnadia.com

http://www.bartconnergymnastics.com

The Last Ten Movies We've Seen (as of Wednesday)........Are We the Doom Generation?

Greetings to our blog readers in South Korea, Romania, and Egypt......

Happy Ramadan to our Muslims friends.....

Today, we look at the last ten films we've seen; this is an idea we originally got from "Film Comment" magazine, where Gavin Smith is the editor-in-chief.

The last ten films we've seen, include two that are in theatres ("Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl;" "The Overnight"). The earliest Hollywood film on the list is "The Brothers Karamazov" (bottom image) which is a 1958 film which marked the film debut of William Shatner (Captain Kirk on "Star Trek") and the earliest film overall is "Torment" from 1944, a Swedish film with a screeenplay from a young Ingmar Bergman.

The other two foreign-language films on the list are "Inside" (Yeralti) by Turkish director Zeki Demirkbuz and "Stray Dogs" (center image) from Taiwanese filmmaker Ming-ling Tsai.

It is not very often that we have a film from the 1990s, or the "Seinfeld" decade as we like to call it, on the list, but the very last film we saw on this survey is a strange spree killers road movie called "The Doom Generation" (top image: Courtney Love, we are using her symbolically as she is not in the film) which features a supporting character played by Parker Posey, who is one of the film's few highlights! (We agree with the late Roger Ebert who called it an awful film!).....

Here is the last ten:

1. "The Doom Generation." director: Gregg Araki. 1995.

2. Stray Dogs. Taiwan. dir: Ming-ling Tsai. 2013

3. The Dark Crystal. Jim Henson and Frank Oz. 1982.

4. Next Stop, Grenwich Village. Paul Mazursky. 1976.

5. Death Hunt. Peter R. Hunt. 1981 w/ Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin

6. The Brothers Karamazov. Richard Brooks. 1958.

7. The Overnight. Patrick Brice. 2015 w/Jason Schwatzman

8. Torment. Sweden. Alf Sjoberg. 1944

9. Me, Earl and the Dying Girl. Alfonso Gomez-Rejan. 2015

10. Inside. Turkey. Zeki Demirkubuz. 2012

http://www.filmcomment.com

http://www.tcm.com

Last Ten Films I've Seen (as of Oct. 16th): Watching a Three-Hour Doc on a Friday Night

"The Autobiography of Nicolea Ceausescu" is a three-hour documentary about a Romanian Cold War dictator who was eventually executed by gunfire by his own people after 22 years of dictatorial rule, and last Friday night was soooo boring (as Moon Unit Zappa would say) that I ended up watching it on Netflix! The film uses official footage and has no narration. One shocking thing I learned from the film was that American Richard Nixon actually traveled to Bucharest to meet Nicolea Ceaucescu.

Other films on the list include "Au Hasard Balthazar," a brilliant, but depressing film about the life of a donkey, which could have been filmed in Greece or Turkey as easily as France. "4:44: Last Day on Earth" is a dire film with Willem Defoe about what the end might be like. Lastly, "Alan Partridge," starring Steve Coogan as the title character who is also a radio dj, is quite hilarious; the green coffee cup above is in his honor. We tried to use a Manchester United coffee cup, but we believe those images are perhaps copyrighted.

Here is the list:

1) Au Hasard Balthazar. France. 1966. Director: Robert Bresson

2) For All Mankind. Documentary. 1989. Dir: Al Reinert

3) McCabe and Mrs. Miller. 1971. Dir: Robert Altman

4) Lebanon. (Israeli film). 2009. Dir:Samuel Maoz.

5) Chico and Rita. Animation. Spain. Dir: Tono Errando, et al

6) 4:44: Last Day on Earth. Dir: Abel Ferrara

7) Alan Partridge. 2013. Dir: Declan Lowney.

8) Marwencol. Documentary. Dir: Jeff Malmberg

9) Zanjeer. India. 1973. Dir: Prakash Mehra.

10) The Autobiography of Nicolea Ceausescu. Documentary. 2010. Romania

http://www.criterion.com/

http://www.netflix.com

http://www.tcm.com

http://www.filmlinc.org

The Olympic Lists (8 of 10) Balkan and Black Sea Regions Combined

There are six countries in the Black Sea: Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine, Georgia and Russia. As all of you know, the Olympic games are being held in Sochi, Russia, which is right across the sea from Trabzon, Turkey, one of the largest cities on the Black Sea.

Balkan nations consist of the former Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey among other.

We are combining the two regions for this list:

1) Alisa Agafonova. 23. Turkey. Ice Dancing. She is pictured here with partner Alper Ucar. Agafonova is a Ukrainian who gained Turkish citizenship to compete with Ucar.

2) Alexandr Smyshylyaev. 25. Russia. Men's Free-Style Skiing.

3) Alxandra Jekova. 26. Bulgaria. Women's Snowboarding.

4) Zoltan Kelemen. 27. Romania. Men's Figure Skating.

5) Panagiosta Tsakiri. 23. Greece. Women's Cross-country skiing. She was the flag bearer for Greece.

6) Dmytro Pidruchnyi. 22. Ukraine. Men's Biathlon.

7) Tina Maze. 30. Slovenia. Women's Alpine. She has won two gold medals.

8) Iason Abrahamshvili. 25. Georgia. Men's Alpine.

9) Andrea Komsic. 17. Croatia. Women's Alpine Skiing.

10) Vuk Radenovic. 30. Serbia. Men's Bobsledding.

http://www.bulgariaski.com/

http://www.goturkey.com/

http://www.visitgreece.gr/

http://www.visitrussia.com/

No Blong Entry Tonight as I am Sick as a Dog..........

We did actually put the term "Dogs in Bulgaria" into Google to come up with this image, which may or may not be from Bulgaria. I imagine Dogs in Greece, Dogs in Romania and Dogs in Turkey look fairly similar to this one.

Bear us as we try to come up with a more meaningful blog entry tomorrow or some time within the next two weeks!

Our Favorite Gymnasts_ Jordyn, Beth, Catalina, et al

Yes, Bob Costas fatigue has set in here at the offices of "The Daily Vampire" in Hartford, Connecticut*, USA (*-not the American city we're actually blogging from), but rather than watching the closing ceremonies with George Michael and pop/rock stars, we thought we'd blog about some of our favourite** gymnasts at the 2012 London Olympics (**-British spelling):

1) Jordyn Wieber, 17, USA, (pictured center) London: Won gold in team competition. Missed out on all-around due to controversial rule that only allows two gymnasts per country in the finals. Finished seventh seventh in the floor final with a 14.500 score. In total, Wieber has 14 career medals, 11 of which are gold.

2) Beth Tweedle, 27, Great Britain/England, London: To the delight of the home crowd, Tweedle won individual bronze on uneven bars, which is considered to be her specialty. Aliya Mustafina (Russia) and He Kexin (China) won gold and silver respectively on the apparatus. Prior to the 2012 Olympics, Tweedle had won three golds at individual events at two separate world championships. In 2006, she was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

3) Catalina Ponor, 24, Romania, (pictured below): London: Won team bronze and silver on floor at the Olympics, but she was denied another bronze when judges overturned an earlier decision that had her place third ahead of American gymnast Aly Raisman, who ended up with the bronze for the balance beam instead. Prior to London: Ponor arrived at the Olympics as one of the most-decorated gymnast in competition. She helped Romania win team gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where she won a total of five medals, three of them gold. Ponor retired in 2007, but she came back in 2011. She has reportedly told various media outlets that she will retire for a second time after London.

4) Victoria Komova, 17, Russia. London: Komova won all-around and team silver, but she told the press she was very discouraged with her Olympic experience because mistakes in the team and all-around cost her and her teammates potential gold. Prior to London: Komova won gold on bars and silver in all-around at the 2011 Tokyo World Championships.

5) Gabby Douglas, 16, USA. London: Douglas, who is known as the Flying Squirrel in reference to Rocky the Flying Squirrel who was Bullwinkle the Moose's sidekick in a 1960s American cartoon, won both team and all-around gold at the Olympics. She is on the cover of the current issue of "People" magazine, and she will be on Corn Flakes boxes this fall.

6) Brittany Rogers, 19, Canada. London: Rogers helped Team Canada finish fifth, the country's all-time highest result in team competition. Rogers scored a 14.666 on vault and 14.500 on balance beam; she finished eighth on the beam in event competition. After London: Rogers will compete for the University of Georgia, a traditional college powerhouse which has won 10 NCAA titles. Ironically, an American athlete with her name played softball several years ago for the University of Alabama, which is UGA's main rival in gymnastics.

http://www.jordynwieber.com

http://www.bethtweedle.com

http://www.romanian-gymnastics.com

http://www.victoriakomova.com.ru/english

http://www.rewritingrussiangymnastics.blogspot.com

http://www.gabrielledouglas.com

http://www.gymcan.org

http://www.georgiadogs.com

Our Favorite Olympic Athletes (so far)_One of Four

We start our look at our favorite Olympic athletes so far with a brief profile of six American male athletes and what they have accomplished at the 2012 London Olympics. Not all of these participants are medal winners, but they did leave a lasting impression on the summer games.

We will provide the athlete's name, sport, age, city of birth and/or residency, and the college or university they attended. The numbers are not in terms of preference as these athletes are listed in alphabetical order.

1. Kevin Durant, basketball, 23, Washington DC, University of Texas_ Durant who plays in the NBA for the Oklahoma City Thunder was instrumental in helping Team America beat Argentina 126-97 in a game that was very close until the third quarter when Durant scored 17 points of the team's 42 points in that period. Durant finished with 42 points; the team faces Australia in the quarterfinals.

2. Daryl Homer, fencing (sabre), 21, New York, St. John's University, (pictured top)_ Homer did not medal at the 2012 London Olympics as he finished in a respectable sixth place during his first Olympics. But, he is the first African-American to compete in fencing, a sport typically dominated by France, Italy and Hungary. Homer lost to Ranes Dumitrescu of Romania, who won a team silver in the sabre division. Aron Szilagyi of Hungary won the individual event that Homer competed in.

3. Jonathan Horton, gymnastics, 26, Houston, Texas, University of Oklahoma (pictured middle)_ Horton has so far (we are deliberately unaware of the current gymnastics results from London since they will not air until at least seven hours from now in the United States) not medaled at the Olympics, but he did win silver on the horizontal bar and a team bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Nevertheless, he has once again been a vital leader on the men's gymnastics team. His teammate Darell Leyva, 20, won bronze in the all-around competition.

4. Cullen Jones, 28, Charlotte, NC, North Carolina State (pictured below)_ Jones has not put up the numbers that Michael Phelps has, but he has had a successful Olympics. Jones won gold in the 4x100 medley, as he did in 2008, and two silver medals.

5. Michael Phelps, 27, Baltimore, Maryland, University of Michigan (did not compete for school)_ Aside from NBA basketball players like LeBron James, few Olympic athletes are likely to become multimillionaires, but Phelps already is. In London, he won four gold medals and two silvers, for a career total of 18 gold medals and four silver medals, making him the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time.

6. Errol Spence, 22, Dallas, Texas_ Spence is the last remaining hope for the United States in boxing; today he has a crucial bout against Andrey Zamakovoy of Russia.

http://www.darylhomer.com

http://www.jonathan-horton.com

http://www.cullenjones.com

Olympic Stories- Romanian Gymnastics Veteran Catalina Ponor

Team Romania did not repeat their 2004 Athens Olympics' feat, which was winning a team gold medal in women's gymnastics. But, thanks to the efforts of Catalina Ponor, 24 (she turns 25 on Aug. 20, shortly after the games finish) the team will leave London with a team bronze medal in the sport.

Along with British gymnast Beth Tweedle, 27, Ponor, is one of the oldest Olympic gymnasts competing in London and her achievement is made more remarkable because she completely missed out on the 2008 Beijing Olympics due to injuries, in fact, four years ago, she was actually retired from the sport.

But, in early 2011, she back to train with Ocatavian Balu, who is considered to be one of the best gymnastics coaches in the world. Ponor had a major setback along the way as she was hospitalized as she underwent a medical procedure to correct a heart defect in August of 2011.

Romania's chances of winning gold in the team competition, which ultimately went to Team America, were diminished from because of an injury to one of the team's key gymnasts Larisa Ioardache, 16. But, along with fellow gymnastics veterans Sandra Izbasa, 22, and Diana Chelaru, 18, the team pulled together for a bronze medal.

Russia got the silver, and the defending Olympic champion Chinese team actually finished fourth.

Ponor's honors also include winning four European titles on balance beam 2004-06 and again this year. Ponor hails from the Black Sea port city of Constanta.

http://www.thecouchgymnast.com

http://www.romaniatourism.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,

Olympic Cities Distance Quiz (3 of 6) Montreal to Moscow

Today, we continue our series of the distances between cities which have hosted the Olympics, with a question about far about Montreal, Canada, site of the 1976 games, are from Moscow, Russia, which hosted the event when the city was the capital of the since-deceased Soviet Union.

We are going with Misha the Bear, the mascot of the 1980 Olympics, here since we dined at a place called Mishka's Restaurant in Baku, Azerbaijan, back in 2008. Ironically, the place had great hamburgers and french fries, which one would associate with, well, capitalism.

During the 1976 Olympics, Nadia Comaneci of Romania scored three perfect 10s; American Bruce Jenner won gold in the decathlon and is now on the front of retro Wheaties cereal boxes (at least in the United States) and American boxer Sugar Ray Leonard beat out Cuban boxer Andres Aldama for gold.

But, Aldama was able to win the gold himself four years later due to the large Olympic boycott of the United States and 64 other countries. Nadia (we prefer to break the rules and use her first name) won gold on beam and bars during the 1980 Olympics as well.

So just how far apart are Moscow and Montreal?

Is the answer:

A) 4,225 miles

B) 4, 395 miles

C) 4,705 miles

D) 4,885 miles

UPDATE: The answer is B

Olympic Cities Distance Quiz (2 of 6)- Los Angeles to Tokyo

As the world gets ready for the 2012 London Olympics, we take a look at the distances between cities which have previously hosted the games. One thing we learned while putting this together is that Detroit tried many times to get the games, but they were unable to land them.

Los Angeles has had considerably more luck as they have hosted the 1932 Olympics and the 1984 Olympics.

Tokyo, Japan, was supposed to get the 1940 put an invasion of China sent the games to Helsinki, Finland. But, they were able to secure the games in 1964, becoming the first Asian country to host the Olympics. In more recent years, South Korea and China have hosted them as well.

There is an amazing contrast in the amount of international athletes who competed in each of the games. In 1964, they were athletes from 93 countries in Tokyo. 20 years later, in spite of a boycott from the Soviet Union, eastern block countries (except Romania and the now nonexistent Yugoslavia) and Cuba, athletes from 140 countries came to southern California.

In Tokyo, judo and women's volleyball become Olympic sports. Among the highlights in Japan were Soviet gymnast Larisa Latyrynina, a Ukrainian who is now 77, won two golds, a silver and two bronze medals. While Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila (1932-1973) won a second consecutive gold medal. For the Americans, recently deceased boxer Joe Frazier (1944-2011) won gold as a heavyweight in boxing.

In L.A., synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics debuted in the games where American gymnast Mary Lou Retton, now 44, won a gold in the all-around competition as well as a team silver and a silver on the vault. Carl Lewis won four gold medals in track. And, a barefoot runner from South Africa named Zola Budd, who competed for the United Kingdom, collided with American runner Mary Slaney*, who was wearing shoes, in a highly controversial and dubious 3,000 meter relay. Thus, many people have forgotten that Romanian runner Maricica Puica actually won the race.

So, what is the distance in miles between Los Angeles and Tokyo....

Is the answer:

A) 5,351 miles

B) 5,451 miles

C) 5,556 miles

D) 5,701 miles

PICTURED: A sumo wrestler and Sam the Eagle, who was the official mascot of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

*-Mary Slaney is now known as Mary Decker


SIDEBAR: As for the answer to our tv quiz entry from yesterday, "M*A*S*H" ran for 251 episodes.


http://www.marylouretton.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Dominique Moceanu

We continue our quotes from American athletes who won gold or silver at Olympics past with a gymnast Dominique Moceanu, 30, a daughter of Romanian immigrants who now resides in Cleveland in honor of the upcoming 2012 London Olympics.

Moceanu was a member of the Magnificent Seven women's gymnastics team from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, which also included Amanda Borden, Shannon Miller and Dominique Dawes. That team won gold over tough competition from Romania, Russia and China.

The gymnast, who is a mother of two, also coaches part-time in Cleveland. Moceanu's coach was Romanian emigre Bela Karolyi, who coached Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton.

Here is Moceanu's quote:

"I was always kinda fearless in everything I did."

We had also considered quoting Borden, 35, a mother of a four-year-old child, who is originally from Cincinnati and now coaches and resides in Tempe, Ariz. Her gym is called, appropriately enough Gold Medal Gym.

Miller, whom we quoted two weeks ago, made news last year as she publicly disclosed that she was battling cancer which at last report was in remission.

http://www.dominique-moceanu.com

http://www.goldmedalgym.com

Quote of the Day/Week_ Nadia Comaneci

Today we start quoting international athletes who have gold or silver medals at the Olympics with a quote from the legendary Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, 50, who is now married to American gold medal-winning gymnast Bart Conner. The gymnastics power couple reside in Oklahoma. There is also a gymnastics academy named after Comaneci in Izmir, Turkey.

Last week, we quoted American gold medal gymnast Dominque Dawes.

Here is Nadia's quote:

"As an Olympic champion gymnast, I have always stayed involved in my sport."