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

Sports Desk- Former UCLA Gymnast is Alternate for Team USA

On Sunday, in San Jose, Calif., the United States Olympic women's gymnastics team was formally decided after the result of team trials. Among the pleasant surprises of the night was that former UCLA gymnast Anna Li, 23, (pictured top) the daughter of Chinese Olympic gymnasts from Las Vegas, qualified as an alternate to the team.

Li was a stand-out at UCLA, where she helped the Bruins win a NCAA title in 2010.

The other alternates are Sarah Finnegan and Elizabeth Price.

Since the Magnificent Seven, which included Dominque Dawes won the team gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, women's gymnastics now apparently only consists of five gymnasts.

Among those who are on the scheduled competing team are McKayla Maroney (pictured), Jordyn Wieber,  Gabby Douglas, Kyla Ross and  Alexandra Raisman, who at 18 is the oldest of the five regular team gymnasts.

Douglas, 16, from Virginia Beach, Va., edged out Wieber, who is considered to be America's strongest gymnast.

There was some controversy as some analysts believe Price, who came in fourth at the trials, should have been on the main team instead of Ross, who is strong on bars and beam.

Alas, the night of competition in San Jose brought an end to two great gymnastics careers as both Alicia Sacramone, 24, the oldest competitor who was also the captain of the 2008 Olympic team and a stand-out gymnast at Brown University, and Nastia Liukin, 22, the 2008 Olympic all-around champion failed to qualify for the team.

www.usagym.com

www.uclabruins.com

The Rabbit Ears Quiz (12 of 12)_ Battle of the Planets

Today, we conclude our long-running series dedicated to television shows which first ran from the late '60s to the early '80s with an homage to "Battle of the Planets," one of the first Japanese anime cartoons to be aired in the United States.

The original Japanese series, which was called "Science Ninja Team Gatchman," ran from 1972-74; the American version, which ran in syndication, was on the air from 1978-85.

The "Battle of the Planets" cast of winged superheroes, known as the G-Force, included Mark, Jason, Princess, Keyop and Troy. Interestingly enough, Mark was voiced by none other than Casey Kasem, now age 80, who also voiced Scooby Doo. Kasem also hosted a popular radio show featuring the top 40 hits from the Billboard charts, which aired during the '70s and '80s.

G-Force often clashed with the demented villain Zoltar, pictured here, who was arguably as deviant and as sinister as Flash Gordon's foe Ming the Merciless. "The New Adventures of Flash Gordon," an American science fiction cartoon ran from 1979-82 on NBC; it was based on a 1940s era comic strip called "Flash Gordon," which is still active in circulation.

The main ship for the G-Force was called The Phoenix.

So, today, we asking what is the difference in terms of number of episodes between the original Japanese version of the anime series and its American counterpart. Though the Japanese version lasted for a shorter time span, it actually produced more episodes.

Is the answer?:

A) 10

B) 15

C) 20

D) 25

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com

http://www.funimation.com

UPDATE (July 5, 2012): The answer is C)20

Casualties of Modern Technology (12 of 12)_ Mixed Tapes

 

The hard part for this particular entry, as in quite often the case, was finding the right image to hotlink; this one does seem to illustrate what audio cassettes looked like for those who were born after Foo Fighters were formed (in 1994, for those of you lost track of music after The Ramones).

According to Wikipedia, a mix taped or mixed tape is a compilation of songs recorded on an audio cassette which reflect the often eclectic tapes of the person doing the recording of the tape. 

Mixed tapes were the subject of "Rolling Stone" writer Rob Sheffield's touching, excellently written memoir "Love in a Mixed Tape" where he talks about how mutual love in music help him meet the love of his life while he was residing in Charlottesville, Va. Sheffiled's memoir has this great line, which all of us of his generation (I am four years younger than Sheffiled myself) can relate to: "According to the great Western philosopher Pat Benatar, love is a battlefield."

 For me, personally, as of today, my 'perfect mixed tape side,' presuming I get one of those 90-minute tapes as opposed to the dreaded 60-minute tapes would include these songs: 1) "Kiss Me on the Bus" by The Replacements (1985)  2:48;  "Redneck Friend" by Jackson Browne (1973) 3:56; "Shake It Up" by The Cars (1981) 3:32; "Distant Early Warning"by Rush (1984) 4:56; "Simarik/Spolied" by Tarkan (1997) 3:10; "I Remember Asheville" by Bruce Piephoff (2007) 4:56; "The Harder They Come" bu Jimmy Cliff (1972) 3:45; "Station to Station" by David Bowie 10:56; "Hello Darlin" by Conway Twitty (1970) 2:56; "Take Me to the River" by Talking Heads (1978) 5:00.

Tarkan is a Turkish pop singer. Bruce Piephoff is an acclaimed singer/song-writer from Greensboro. For the rest of the bands and artists, go to bing.com; Wow! This was way too much work for one entry.

Quote of the Day- Karl Marx

Since there were "Jeopardy" categories pertaining to both Karl Marx and John Lennon (a play on the term Marx and Lenin), we thought we'd quip the German philosopher Marx (1818-1883) who known for being the first to develop the political philosophies of socialism, at least in the modern era.

Marx is also one of the subjects made into a plush doll from the Unemployed Philosophers Guild.

Due to his controversial views, Marx lived much of his later life in exile, including stints in Paris and London, where he died. His most famous works are "The Communist Manifesto" (1848) and "Das Capital" (1867-1894).

Marx was born in Trier in southwestern Germany. His theories revolved around class struggle and conflicts between ownership and the working class.

There are historians who believe that the Soviet Union and red China which were established in theory according to Marxism were actually against Marx's thinking because he was opposed to totalitarianism.

Here is his quote:

"Capital is dead labor, which vampire-like, lives only by sucking labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks."

Quotes of the Da/Week- Emily Dickinson

We continue quoting figures who have been made into plush doll toys by the American novelty company the Unemployed Philosophers Guild with a quip from poet Emily Dickinson , who lived a quiet, reclusive life during the mid-1800s in New England where she penned many famous works, including "A Bird Came Down the Walk."

There is an Emily Dickinson museum in Amherst, Mass.

Here is her quote:

"Behavior is what a person does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes."

www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org

Quote of the Day/Week_ Andy Warhol

Today, we continue with quotes from figures who have been made into plush toy dolls from the American novelty company The Unemployed Philosophers Guild, which usually retail for circa $17.95, as we quip the great artist Andy Warhol  (1927-1987). The man who was certainly famous for more than 15 minutes is mentioned in an excellent article by David Wolman in "Wired" (June issue) about an exemplary money counterfeiter in Germany, who was inspired by Warhol.

Currently, the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pa., is showing film and video screenings by Warhol. Across the world in Singapore, there is an exhibit called "Andy Warhol, 15 Minutes" at the Singapore ArtScience Museum.

An interesting thing we learned about Singapore from an article about flight attendants is that Singapore Airlines actually has a corpse on board in case anyone doesn't complete the journey across the Pacific.

I guess if a traveler has that situation, their relatives will need to check with the Singapore embassy in Washington, DC. Incidentally, we first saw this Warhol doll in real life at a Smithsonian gift shop.

Here is the quote from Warhol, and we do wonder if the Rev. Johnny Robertson of Martinsville, Va., who is reportedly a bit over-the-top would make of this:

"I never think that people die. They just go to department store."

SIDEBAR: We learned today from the Urban Dictionary that word 'bittertweet' is about a tweet (which is a message on Twitter for those of you who lives in caves with no wi-fi access) that relays sorrow or disappointment. An example would be: "RIP, Rover. You were a great dog, and you will be missed. We just wish you hadn't gone after the soccer ball in front of a school bus." That may have exceeded 14 characters, but you get the idea. Right?

SIDEBAR TWO: We are making an effort to appear hip and trendy here at "The Daily Vampire," and we thought what better way to do that than to talk about the topics that are trending on the search engine bing.com; these include Channing Tatum, Lamar Odom, Italy vs. Germany (we still can't believe Germany lost!) and, of course, Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Ok, that is a joke, but we can tell you that the most famous man named Ahmet in the world (well, perhaps he is second to Ahmet Zappa, the son of the late Frank Zappa) is 53 years old and that he was born in the Turkish city of Konya.


http://www.mentalfloss.com

http://www.warhol.org

http://www.warholdfoundation.org

http://www.philosophersguild.com

http://www.yoursingapore.com

http://www.singaporeair.com

http://www.wired.com

http://www.urbandictionary.com