Go Highlanders Go!

My beloved alma mater of Radford University, located in Radford, Va., is sitting on top of the Big South Conference in men's basketball. On Monday, they beat Charleston Southern University 80-71.

On Saturday, they go to Lexington, Va., to face the VMI Keydets in a key game. VMI has been battling with Radford for first place in the conference much of the season. The game will tip off at 4 p.m. at it will be televised on MASN, which is available from Maryland to North Carolina.

The school has a Homecoming Weekend starting on Feb. 26. That weekend, they host arch rivals Liberty University from Lynchburg, Va. (yeah it's Jerry Falwell's school, but his son now runs the school since he has died) for another important game on Saturday.

Among the stand-out for the Highlanders is center Art Parakhouski from Minsk, Belarus. He is the reason why I considered naming this entry "From Belarus with Love," but I came to the realization that it indeed sound pretty awful!

UPDATE: RU won their big game over VMI by a 97-90 count.

Quote of the Week- Langston Hughes

In honor of Black History Month, we have two quotes from two black poets on our respective blogs. A quote from Nikki Giovanni will be featured on Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Times.

Here is one from Langston Hughes:

"Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it."

We may have used this quote previously, but we like it!

Facebook Friend of the Week_ Dario Pticek

Dario Pticek of Croatia has the honor of being my 1,000th friend on Facebook.

Of course, I don't actually know him.

This sneaker was apparently influenced by the Croatian flag. I believe the last time I was in Dario's country was when we passed through the Zagreb airport when I was a kid.

Pticek's birthday is July 1, 1976. He has (yikes!) 2,809 Facebook friends and we have 34 'friends' in common.

He is a vampire (!) and a member of Mob Wars and Mafia Wars.

Pticek also enjoys rafting and he is a fan of Chuck Norris and Bob Marley.

Hmmm..........now there's an interesting combination.

Valentine's Day Dance in Floyd, Va.

Perhaps, the two unluckiest days of the year for me are Valentine's Day and my birthday (which is March 4).

I can never seem to get a date on Valentine's Day, and people have been known to die on my birthday (including my father!).

But, for those of you who are lucky to have a date on V-Day, there is a Valentine's Day contra dance at the Sun Music Hall in Floyd, Va.

And, in case you were wondering that is the Little Red Hair Girl in this picture!

College Gymnast of the Moment-Courtney Kupets

This is the first entry is a long-delayed series on NCAA college gymnasts. On our sister blog Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time, we will have a profile of North Carolina State gymnast Ashley Shepard.

We start with Courtney Kupets, a highly accomplished gymnast who boasts her own Wikipedia page.

Born on July 27, 1986, Kupets was an Olympic gymnast before coming to the University of Georgia. Ironically, she competed in Athens, Greece (UGA is of course in Athens, Ga.) where she won an individual bronze medal on uneven bars in addition to the silver she won in team competition.

Kupets also won an all-around national championship (before coming to Georgia) in 2003 and she was co-champ with Olympic teammate Carly Patterson in 2004.

This year in a meet against the University of Alabama, Kupets scored two perfect tens, which is remarkable given that she missed much of last year due to an Achilles tendon injury.

I had a chance to see Kupets, who also won the NCAA all-around title in 2007, in Raleigh earlier this year. She was indeed very impressive.

The Gym Dawgs are going for their fifth consecutive national championship last year.

Their long-time coach Suzzane Yoculan will be retiring after the end of the season.

Cereals of Our Youth (Entry 8 of 11)

Trix Cereal.........we all know the punch line: "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids."

Frost/Nixon My Best Film of the Year

Here are my 20 favorite films of 2008. This is different than the original list which I posted in December, and it is very similar to the list I sent for the Film Comment Reader's Survey. As always, I post without commentary:


1. Frost/Nixon

2. Taxi to the Dark Side (doc)

3. The Edge of Heaven (Germany/Turkey)

4. The Flight of the Red Balloon (France/Taiwan)

5. Slumdog Millionaire (UK)

6. The Wrestler

7. Doubt

8. In Bruges

9. Elegy

10. The Visitor

11. Milk

12. Gran Torino

13. The Dark Knight

14. The Last Mistress (France)

15. Paranoid Park

16. Let the Right One In (Sweden)

17. Tell No One (France)

18. Man on Wire (doc)

19. Vicky Christina Barcelona

20. Takva: Fear of God (Turkey)*

*-Released in Turkey in 2006. Not released theatrically in US, but is available on dvd