Quote of the Day/Week- Gertrude Stein

We continue our series of quotes from American writers with a quip from Gertrude Stein (1874-1976) who was played in the Woody Allen movie "Midnight in Paris" by Oscar-winner Kathy Bates (pictured). "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas" is among her famous works:

"I write for myself and strangers. This is the only way that I can do it."

SIDEBAR: Arielle Martin, 26, a BMX women's biker from Cedar Hills, Utah, who will compete at the 2012 London Olympics is the subject of an excellent feature in "The Deseret Morning News" (Salt Lake City newspaper) by Amy Donaldson. Martin crashed during the world championships for the sport in China  in 2008 (not during the Olympics). But, she has not only made a full recovery; she will also compete for the United States at the 2012 London Olympics.

http://www.usacycling.com

www.ariellemartin15.com

Quote of the Day/Week- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Today's quote of the day is from F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1944), the famed Minnesota novelist who died age 44. Last year, a characterization of him was in the Woody Allen movie "Midnight in Paris." He was played by Tom Hiddleston.

In a tragic irony, his wife Zelda Sayre (known as Zelda Fitzgerald) also died young at age 48 in 1948. She was played in the same Allen film by Alison Pill.

Here are some other quick facts about F. Scott Fitzgerald:

_ Best-known for his novel "The Great Gatsby" (1925), which was made into a theatrical film in 1974 with Robert Redford playing the lead. I found a paperback copy of it at a nifty used bookstore in Wilmington, NC.

_Wrote the novel "Tender is the Night" (1934), which is the same title of a catchy Jackson Browne ballad, released in 1983.

_ A theatre named after him in St. Paul, Minn., was featured in Robert Altman's last film "A Prairie Home Companion"

Here is the quote:

"Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy."

Quote of the Day- Carson McCullers

Today, we start a week-long series of quotes from famous American writers since the 4th of July, or Independence Day, was celebrated here last week.

We start with the distinguished Southern writer Carson McCullers (1917-1997), who died at age 50. She had suffered considerable health and personal problems during her short life. Two of her most famous novels "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" (1940) and "Member of the Wedding" (1946) were written before she turned 30. Her work has also been adapted to stage plays and film.

McCullers was born in Georgia, and wrote most of her famous novels while residing in Charlotte, NC.

Here is her quote:

"I live with the people I create and it has always made my essential loneliness less keen."

Things We Learned on the Internet Today-Banksy Got Banksied

This happened back in 2011, which was like 11 years ago in cyber-time, but the mystic, unknown street artist/vandal/cult icon Banksy's famous/infamous painting "Charlie Brown Arsonist" was stolen from its Hollywood Boulevard location in Los Angeles, and rumors have it that it got sold on e-bay. We are fairly certain that the Charles Schultz estate got none of the proceeds.

Incidentally, we learned from the web site for "Mental Floss" magazine that Schulz's "Peanuts" comic strip debuted back when Harry S. Truman was president!

Also, the following are trending on Bing: Natalie Wood, Anderson Silva, Afghan woman executed, Denise Rich, Adrien Peterson and Tom Cruise Divorce. Apparently, Katie Holmes didn't make the cut, but she will apparently reap lots of loot from the divorce and never have to go a Scientology gathering again.

The case of how the actress Natalie Wood ("Splendor in the Grass," "Rebel without a Cause") mysteriously died at age 43 in 1981 from an apparent drowning incident has been reopened as a file case.

Denise Rich is apparently a rich socialite who made millions producing records. Apparently, she was renounced her American citizenship to avoid paying taxes. Now, we see why this made headlines on Fox News (we saw it at a gas station; yes, it's normally a network we don't watch).

And, alas, a woman was apparently executed for adultery in Afghanistan. What is murky to us is whether this was an official execution carried out by the state, or if it was carried out by a civilian on his own accord. Either way, it is a travesty.

Remembering Ernest Borgnine

Two years ago I watched the film "The Vikings" (1958), as it was one of the only movies I could think of with three living actors from the golden age of Hollywood: Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis and Ernest Borgnine. As of today, Douglas is the only actor from the film who is still alive as Borgnine died at the age of 95.

Borgnine's contemporaries from that era also included the likes Burt Lancaster, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman, Lee Marvin, Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon.

Borgnine was also the oldest living Best Actor Oscar winner as he won the award for his title role in the film "Marty" (1955); Borgnine also appeared in the films "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), "The Wild Bunch" (1969) and "Escape from New York" (1981).

On his quotes was: "I don't care whether a part is 10 minutes long, or two hours long, and I don't care whether my name is up there on top, either."

Image to Fill Space- The Pocket Hercules

Since I have just recently started working out, for the first time in six years, and on the occasion of the up-coming 2012 London Olympics, I thought it would be ironic (as I will never achieve his kind of muscular build) to feature an image of Turkish weight-lifting legend Naim Suleymanoglu.

Suleymanoglu, now age 45, won Olympic gold in three successive summer games: 1988 Seoul Olympics, 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The weight-lifter whose name caused problems for American tv announcers is also perhaps the most high-profile athlete to defect from one country to another. Though there have been some athletes like the barefoot runner Zola Budd who was from South Africa, during apartheid, who moved to England to compete for the United Kingdom during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Suleymanoglu left Bulgaria in a much more defiant manner.

His defection from Bulgaria to Turkey, two countries that neighbor each other, came in Australia, of all places. Suleymanoglu left Bulgaria because ethnic Turks, such as himself, were persecuted by the then-communist regime in Sofia. But, now Bulgaria and Turkey actually get along quite well, the same cannot be said for Turkey and Syria. Suleymanoglu reportedly had a heart attack in 2009, at an incredibly young age, but we were unable to find detailed information on the web about his predicament.

We had wondered what happened to the Soviet weightlifter who was featured in the opening montage of the now-defunct "ABC's Wide World of Sports," and while we researching this piece, we thought we'd dig up that info.

We had assumed the weightlifter was Armenian, but Vasily Aleskseyev (1942-2011), who died last year at the age of 69, is listed as being Russian according to Wikipedia.

But, there is an Armenian weight-lifter Tigran Martiosian who won a world championship in 2010 in Antalya, Turkey, a country which Armenia has complicated relations with.

As for the other famous figure in the opening montage, the Slovenian (which was then a part of Yugoslavia) ski-jumper Vino Bogataj is alive and well; in fact, in recent years, he has been a ski instructor.

Ten People Who Will Choose Our President (3 of 10)_ Taxi Driver in Charlotte

Name: John Baily

Job: Taxi Driver

Age: 34

Race: White

Residency: Charlotte, NC

Will Likely Vote for: Mitt Romney




 Yes, the Volkswagen taxi above is in Mexico City, and the row of taxis on the bottom are in Istanbul, but it is taxi drivers in cities in swing states, such as Charlotte, NC, who will decide if Barack Obama remains president of if Mitt Romney moves into the Oval Office.


In 2008, President Obama won Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) as well as other urban areas, including Guilford County (Greensboro) and Wake County (Raleigh) as well as college town communities, such as Orange County (Chapel Hill).

One of the surprised in the North Carolina vote in 2008 was that rural Caswell County, near the Virginia border and the city of Danville, Va., voted for Obama. But, mostly rural areas went for McCain, including Alamance County (Burlington) and Iredell County (Statesville).

The Democratic Convention will take place from Sept. 3-6th in Charlotte, and the city's mayor Anthony Foxx (D) says that he expects the Queen City to reap $160 million in benefits.

In the '08 election, Obama narrowly won the Tarheel State by a 0.3%, but the non-partisan private media company Rasmussen Reports shows Romney winning by a thin 47-44 margin. North Carolina overwhelmingly voted for the highly controversial gay marriage ban earlier this year. The Republicans also took over both houses in state government in 2012, and went to extreme measures to get right wing legislation passed on July 3rd.

http://www.charlotte2012.com

http://www.2012.democratic-convention.org

http://www.demconvention.com