Monday Morning Twitter Feeds_ London Calling and a Missing Kangaroo

Within the last fwe weeks, we have decided to post Twitter feeds from Saturday evenings/nights and Monday morning. We're still trying to figure out exactly why ourselves. Here are some of today's interesting tweets taken from the 10:00-11:00 a.m. hour (eastern time, USA):

1) @rollingstone: "Blur's headlining set in London may have been their last ever gig."

2) @jaketapper (Jake Tapper): "In addition to @martharaddatz, the other debate moderators are Jim Lehrer, @bobschieffer and @crowlycnn. Congrats on the honor."

3) @politico: "Don't over-interpret warns @aburnspolitico, but Gallup have data indicating tepid reaction to the Ryan announcement."

4) @ sbnation: "Did you watch Closing Ceremony? We did. And now, lots of jokes."

5) @Politicalticker: "First on CNN: Atheist group targets presidential candidates' faith with billboards" (After checking out the link, we found out that American atheists is putting up the billboards in Charlotte, NC, ahead of the Democratic National Convention. Since North Carolina is a swing-state, and Charlotte has lots of evangelicals, we think this is politically a bad idea. But, by the same token, evangelicals seem to have no problem with radical 'If you die tonight? Heaven or Hell' billboards, such as one near Roanoke, Va.)

 6) @Weirdwire: "Animal escape in Germany; kangaroo on the lamb."

7) @HuffingtonPost: "Did you see London's mayor hilariously dancing along to the Spice Girls last night?" (London's mayor Boris Johnson is pictured above)

8) @capitalweather: "Felt great this A.M., didn't it? 60s and low humidity in most spots to start day. Warming up now, low 80s at 10 a.m." (This is in reference to weather conditions in Washington, DC, hopefully, Democrats and Republicans can put aside partisanship for a nice not too hot day in the nation's capital).

http://www.politico.com

http://www.atheists.org

Things We Learned on Google Today- Ryan Giggs is Simply the Best

We are continuing with yet another entry in our Things We Learned on Google Today series even though we have not posted any entries in the series since back on May 5!

Today, we learned that Manchester United fans chose Welsh soccer player Ryan Giggs, 37, as the best player in the team's history over the likes of Eric Cantona, George Best and David Beckham, who along with Brazilian legend Pele is one of three futbol players that Americans have heard of. (Actually, we aren't sure who that third person might be).

Giggs, who is still active with Manchester United though he retired from international play in 2007 (he was captain of the Welsh national team; yes we know Wales is not a country too but one day when we figure out why the United Kingdom has four separate national soccer teams, we will let you know), is the most decorated player in English soccer history as he has won 12 English Premiere League medals. Astonishingly, Giggs scored 17 goals in the 1993-94 season for MU.

In England, the personal life of this superstar is apparently quite scandolous, but we are too busy to find out the sordid details.

SIDEBAR: It appears that one of the few places to get away from the here in les etats unis is Fargo, North Dakota, a city that the Coen Brothers made famous with the film "Fargo" even though they are from Minnesota. According to wunderground.com, it was a mere 64 degrees in North Dakota's largest city today.

This seems exceptionally cool given that in our corner of the globe, it was 94 degrees in both Raleigh, NC, and Lynchburg, Va, and a staggering 97 degreees in Washington, DC. Hopefully, House Speaker Cong. John Boehner (R-Ohio) was not hanging out by the Washington Monument and working on his tan.

(For those of you from England, here in les etats unis, those of us who are Democrats love making fun of Republicans!).

Amadeus in Bethesda- The DC Trip (Entry 1 of 3)

This marks the first of three entries on this blog about a very hectic, yet very exciting trip that my mom and I took to Washignton, DC, last week. Though the trip was very brief (it lasted about 36 hours), we are actually dedicating six entries to it, with three on this blog and three more on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time." That is also known as my B-side blog (it gets like ten percent of the traffic on this blog for some odd reason?!).

I was eagerly hoping to go to Washington, DC, to see the Paul Gaugin exhibit at the National Gallery. The fact I had missed a chance to see a heavily-publisized Pablo Picasso exhibit at the Virginia Fine Arts Museum in Richmond, Va., made me even more eager to get to DC before the Gaugins left the building on June 5th.

There were complications in getting my mom on board. I needed both to help with expenses and to actually physically get to DC. Ironically, even though I fit many cultured urbanite intellectual sterotypes with my seven magazine subscriptions and interest in films by directors like Akira Kurosawa and Jean-Luc Godard, I hate traffic! And, the I-66 exchange that starts in rural Front Royal, Va., gets very congested once a traveler comes into Manassas, Va., which is DC's southern-most suburb. Going Greyhound was not really an option, since the bus left circa 6:15 a.m. and I am not a morning person!

Initially, mom wanted to go to Florida to see her sister/my aunt, but she soon realized, the timing was not right for that trip which is considerably farther away from southwest Virginia than Washington, DC, even though it is still a five and a half hour drive if you stop to eat, get gas and have to patiently wait in traffic.

So, we did end up going to Washington, DC, on May 19. My mom had a radical notion that we could somehow see the Gaugin exhibit on that day, which was Thursday, even though there would be little time to get that in. So, we got to the National Gallery at 4:45 p.m. I had misread the museum's web page and made the assumption that they would be open until 6:00 p.m. In actuality, there were open only until 5:00 p.m., so that gave us 15 minutes to tour the museum, had we chosen to do that (we didn't). Oddly enough, the security guards checked my mom's over-sized green pocketbook anyway.

I had seen a mention of a Turkish restaurant in "The Washingtonian" magazine called Ezme on P Street in the Dupont Circle part of town. Mom decided that we should jump into a taxi and head over there. Upon arrival there, we learned that they did not start serving dinner until 5:30 p.m. Since it was 5:05 p.m., we had time to kill.

So, we headed over to a nearby Starbucks, where frappucinos are considerably more expensive than they are in places like Roanoke, Va., and Greensboro, NC. We chose to sit outside, and I overheard two men speaking Turkish, my second language (my late father Mehmet Gokbudak was from Turkey). It turns out the men were urologists who were in town for an international urology conference. Interestingly enough, both men were smoking?!

We finally got to Ezme and I ordered Manti, a meat and noodle dish that though native to Turkey can be hard to find even in Istanbul, Adana Kebab, a spicy meat dish native to the central southern Turkish city of Adana and lastly rice pudding. My mom had similar dished though she opted to have "Ayva Talisi" (the Pear Dessert) instead of rice pudding.

Then, much to our shock, we saw that the street was closed. I had seen some man who appeared to be Japanese bowing as he exited his limosine and I had presumed he was some high-ranking diplomat and that was why all the police officers were in the area.

But, we found out a short while later, that President Barack Obama was headed to P Street! The motorcade passed by us and even local DC folks were stunned by what was happening. Many took cellphone pictures even though they would probably not get anything more than the back of a Secret Service agent's head.

A college-age guy looked at his BlackBerry and told me that Twitter said Obama was eating at Pizzeria Paradisio, which is a very casual place. It was not until researching this piece today that I found out that Obama was actually meeting a donor, who may have been the Japanese man, at an office above the pizza place. But, pizza was provided for them.

Ironically enough, I asked the waitress at Ezme if anyone famous had dined there. I had even mentioned Michelle Obama. She said (in Turkish) something to the effect of: "No, not to my knowledge."

SIDEBAR: We are naming this series "Amadeus in Bethesda" because the Roundhouse Theatre in Bethesda, Md., is currently performing the acclaimed play "Amadeus" with an extended run until June 12th.

Coming Attractions- Amadeus in Bethesda

Well, the world did not come to an abrupt end today as the radical evangelical radio station tycoon Harold Camping, who has gone missing, reported but there was a volcanic eruption in Iceland. Perhaps, God is punishing them for Bjork (that is a joke to everyone in Reykjavik!).

And, though we were hoping to start our blog series "Amadeus in Bethesda" about yet another hectic, but very fun-filled trip to Washington, DC, we are going to post it hepfully at some juncture next week instead.

The play "Amadeus," which was the basis for the 1985 Oscar-winning film of the same name that undoubtedly inspired Quentin Tarantino to become a filmmaker (hmmm.....yes, I know my off-beat sense of humor may make as much sense as a "Zippy the Pinhead" comic strip....?! By the way, we love Bill Griffith's work) is now being staged at the Roundhouse Theatre in Bethesda, Md., which is the reason why we are calling the series "Amadeus in Bethesda."

We did not get to see the play, which opened May 11 and runs through June 5, but I have read the play in addition to seeing the film, and if I lived in the Maryland 'burbs, I would like to think I'd go to the play instead of seeing "Bridesmaids" at the multi-plex. Also, by sheer coincidence, we stayed in Vienna, Va., which is named the capital of Austria, Mozart's native land.

Here is a quote from Mozart (1756-1791) who died young, though he did outlive Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison:

"As death, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our existence."

DC Diary- Some Very Expensive Tamales

Much of Day Three of our Christmas Family Trip to Washington, DC, which was on Wednesday, was spent at the fairly new Smithsonian Native American Museum.

Among the things we found out at this rather large museum was that rock pioneer Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) of Seattle was of Native American heritage, in addition to being black and he wore fancy costumes (one of which was on display) to pay homage to his heritage.

But, before we went through the museum which also featured art exhibits and historical/cultural displays, we ate lunch....and, a very expensive lunch at that in the museum's cafeteria.

My sister and I both got tamales with two sides, and the dishes cost a staggering twenty dollars each! My mom got a vegetarian soup and a sweet potato tart while my brother-in-law had either a pizza or a burger with a Bohemia beer and a cheesecake. The meal cost a shocking $95!

I asked my brother-in-law (who is not actually named Sven, nor is he Swedish- see earlier entry) is Bohemia was a Czech beer, but it turned out to be Mexican. While researching this piece, I found out that Bohemia, like another Mexican beer Pacifico, is made in the Pilsner style which originated in a part of what is now the Czech Republic.

My brother-in-law had a slight dispute as we were dinning as I had recalled an article in "Esquire" that stated the best tamales in America were found in Mississippi. He countered that they were actually found in New Mexico.

As it turns out, both of us could very be right.

Tamales are a traditional Latin dish, that is even found in India, made of masa, a corn-based starch dough. Along with Mexico, the Latin form of tamales can be found in Cuba, Argentina, El Salvador, Belize and Guatemala among other countries.

Tamales came to the United States in 1893, and quickly became popular among African-Americans, hence the reason why they are popular in the Deep South, particularly Mississippi, as well as in western states like Arizona and New Mexico with large Hispanic populations.

One place where one can find tamales in the South is at Fat Mama Tamales in Natchez, Miss., while there is a restaurant called Leona's Taurante in the hamlet of Chimayo, N.Mex, which also specializes in the dish.

One can even order frozen tamales from santafetamales.com (phone: 505-471-4766), including red chile tamales, green chile tamales and vegan tamales.

SIDEBAR: We want to congratulate the town of Strasburg, Va., about one hour and 15 minutes south of Washington, DC, on their 250th anniversary which is being celebrated tonight. The town is home to The Strasburg High School Rams, The Hotel Strasburg and The Strasburg Emporium, which is among the most popular antiques malls in the northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

DC Diary- Back to Hamburger Hill

So much for a hiatus!

This 'historic' blog entry marks our very first one from the nation's capital, Washington, DC, though we have blogged about this town and its suburb Bethesda, Md, many times over the years.

Even though I am now in DC for a second day, I will reflect on each preious day starting with yesterday, and our musings will continue on our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

Yesterday, we left Roanoke, Va., at almost exaclty 11 a.m. to make the four-hour drive to The District.

We stopped for lunch at Mug Shots, a coffee shop in downtown Staunton, Va., which some Christmas albums, including one by Jim Nabors (is he dead or alive), we need to ask our Honduran intern Javiet to look that up; as soon as we find out, we'll let you know).

There were some cute college-age girls behing the counter who were clogging in the kitchen as we eating our chicken sandwiches.

We then stopped in lovely Front Royal, Va., which has a small baseball stadium named after another Christmas-song legend Bing Crosby, but we just had time to stop there for gas. But, from living near the area, I can assure you it is a charming place with lots of horse farms and antique shops, though I have to ask: "Did they really need an Applebees?"

We finally arrived in DC a little before 5:00 p.m. And, then we briefly argued over what to watch on tv before settling on some cooking reality show on tv. Personally, I would have even chosen reruns of "Sanford and Son" on TV Land, but that's just me!

The funny moment during the drive came when we were in Fairfax, Va., a DC suburb. I told my sister and her husband, Sven and Eva Thomasson, who both live in Goteborg, Sweden, (they like me to take radical steps to assure their privacy, these are not their real names or where they actually live) that I was glad we were not going to the Vietnam Memorial again this year.

The reason is not because I am an unpatriotic far-left extremist who has every cd that Rage Against the Machine ever put out (though my zip code is so far right that all Democrats are considered Maoists), but simply because we went last year so my mom could find one of her students from the '60s who went to William Byrd High School in Vinton, Va. Since this student of her's alas died during the Vietnam War, his name was on the wall.

It was a very moving, but also a very somber experience.

As it turns out, Sven's stepfather in Vermont is a war veteran and he wants us to find the names of his fallen buddies on the wall. But, at least, we're not going back to The Holocaust Museum.

Quote of the Week- Edvard Munch

Dagnamit! Well, that's what my friend Susan Paige from Bethesda, Maryland,(pse) said when she missed the Edvard Munch exhibit at the National Gallery in Washington, DC, that ended on Halloween. But, the good news is that she can now go to Rotterdam, Holland, to see an exhibit of the classic Norwegian artist's work!

Munch, best know for the pictured image ("The Scream") is perhaps the most famous Norwegian of all time although theatre people like my friend Sal Edmunds of Boones Mill, Va., (also a pse-fake name and fake residency for a real person living in a real place) would argue for Henrik Ibsen.

But, we never take sides here unless we're pummeling Sarah Palin!

The National Gallery, for its part, is now showcasing early Victorian British photographs until Jan. 28, so there's no need to kick a fire hydrant (which I actually did after narrowly missing a Norman Rockwell exhibit at The Corcoran Gallery, which is also in DC, some ten years ago).

Here is today's quip from Munch:

"But, can they (great works) get rid of the worm that lies gnawing at the roots of my heart? No, never."

One has to wonder if those sentiments were also felt by Australian artist Lloyd Graham and fellow painter Sarah Irani when they completed their 'masterpieces' which are hanging from the walls of The Museum of Bad Art (yes, it is an actual place) in the Brookline, Mass., area.

Irani's "Mama and Babe" looks like a picture of Cher with an orphaned child, while Graham's "Artist as a Young Man" appears to be a bad portrait of Bob Dylan.

Both paintings are a part of the museum's blue people series, which you can see on the net (if we showed those pictures here, they'd assuredly shoot us!).

I also love "Worried Guy," an anynomous painting of a man who looks like Medusa after a sex change, which was rescued from something like a trash can in Seattle.

Quote of the Week- Jimmy Carter

He is undoubtedly Rush Limbaugh's 'favorite president' (which is reason to love the guy) and tomorrow night former president Jimmy Carter will sign copies of his latest book at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC.

An interview with Carter will also air this weekend on C-Span 2 (Book TV), and an exhibit called "The Working White House" is currently on display at the Carter Museum and Library in Atlanta where Rosalynn Carter will hold her own book-signing in December.

Here is our quote from the president, one of only four living ex-presidents, who came in between Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan:

"America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America."

Another ex-president Bill Clinton speaks at the Greensboro Coliseum tomorrow night as part of Guilford College's Bryan Series. Clinton will reportedly head to Switzerland on Wednesday to start lobbying for an American bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

SIDEBAR: Speaking of Carter's home state of Georgia, we learned that there is a happening vegeteranian restaurant in the college town of Athens, Ga., called The Grit, which serves brunch from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

PSA- Have a Safe Fourth of July

We want to use this weekly Thursday 'PSA' (Public Service Announcement) entry to wish everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July even if they live in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

But, in all seriousness, The American Civils Liberty Union (ACLU) tweeted today that they are advising anyone traveling to see their aunt in Yuma, Ariz., what their rights are should they be stopped by a federal or state law enforcement officer in Arizona which recently passed a new highly controversial anti-immigration bill. Among the fears expressed by Hispanics who live in The United States legally is that they will be stopped and harrassed simply because of their ethnicity. The ACLU has full details about what perspective travelers passing through Arizona should know at their web site http://www.aclu.org

In more fun news, The Durham Bulls are having a Fourth of July homestand in Durham, NC. Tonight, the Bulls play the Louisville Bats, a team they beat 5-4 in 10 innings last night thanks to a bases loaded walk which scored Jose Lobaton. The Bulls will also have four straight nights of fireworks starting with tonight's game, which will be underway in about 20 minutes.

Another minor league team in North Carolina, the Asheville Tourists of Asheville won their game last night with one of their in-state rivals The Kannapolis Intimidators by a 2-1 count thanks to a ninth inning homerun from Orlando Sandoval. The game was played in Asheville.

In World Cup news, a Twitter site devouted to strange news reported that an Austrian man is selling his bejewelled vuvuzela on the Internet for $20,800. And, Austria was not even in the World Cup!

The Short Answer from Doctor Oz

If you google any search engine right now, you will probably find a load of info about the Turkish-Armenian political squabble going on in Congressional halls in Washington, DC. And, if you want to find out about the matter, which I personally consider a 'Rashomon nightmare,' I suggest you go to Google.com right now.

But, we thought it would be more interesting to focus on the world's most famous Turkish-American since Joe Camel*, Dr. Mehmet Oz, (I am a Turkish-American too, but I don't have a syndicated talk show.)

In a response to a follower on Twitter, Dr. Oz answered the following two-part question:

"Are you from Turkey? How much turkey should i eat a day?" (the tweet had a lower-case i)"

Dr. Oz responded by saying: "Yes, and the less meat the better"

*-Dr. Oz has publicly said he will not treat any patient who smokes. I completely agree with him on that matter, though assuredly he would find a hard time developing a clinic if he worked in a place like Danville, Va. (where some 65 % of the population still smokes). And, smoking remains a major societal problem in Turkey as well though less of the population there smokes than they did when I lived there as a child 30 years ago.