Saturday, October 31, 2009

Zip Code USA- Transylvania, Louisiana 71286





Today, we profile Transylvania, La., population 743, in our series which has been defunct for a few months now.

The town's general store, which also includes a post office, sells bat souvenirs for tourists who come through northeast Louisiana (the area borders Mississippi).

Transylvania, La., was actually named after Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., rather than the more famous Transylvania.

If it's not obvious, Transylvania Castle (also pictured here) is actually in Romania.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Special Quote of the Day- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk





Since today is Republic's Day in Turkey, my late father Mehmet Gokbudak's country, we quote a line from Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938) who founded the Republic of Turkey:

"A nation devoid of art and artists can not have a full existence."

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Silly Photo to Fill Space- More Ghosts




........or dogs dressed up as ghosts. This looks like something my friend Christopher Knight would do

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Ghosts




It's that time of the year again!

The Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va., will be screening the comedy film "Ghostbusters" at midnight for Halloween on both Oct. 30 and Oct. 31.........

Monday, October 26, 2009

Quote of the Week- Madeline Kahn




Today, we are featuring two quotes from two comedic actresses who both died of breast cancer on our two respective blogs in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

On "The Daily Vampire," we had a quip from Gilda Radner (1944-1989). Here we quote Madeline Kahn (1942-1999):

"Mel Brooks is sensual with me. He treats me like an uncle. A dirty uncle."

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Know Your Mayors (Entry 10)- Durham, NC's Bill Bell




Municipal Elections are underway in many parts of the United States, including North Carolina.

The City of Durham, NC, is a college town (ironically so is Durham, NH) which is home to Duke University. But, the city is also known for the famous minor baseball team the Durham Bulls, which recently won the Triple-A World Series (see Sept. entry).

Bill Bell (pictured above) serves as the mayor of Durham, which has approximately 263,000 residents.

Bell, a Howard University alumnus, was first elected to office in 2001 and he was twice re-elected in 2003 and 2005.

The Durham mayor is among those seeking re-election in November, along with the likes of Greensboro's mayor Yvonne Johnson (see last entry in the series). Bell will be challenged by Steven Williams (I), also an African-American.

Bell is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a bi-partisan group started by Boston mayor Tom Menino (subject of entry 14 in this series) and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg (when Bloomberg was a Republican as opposed to an independent).

The Durham mayor was challenged in 2005 by Thomas Stith (R) over a range of city issues, including violence. Stith charged that Bell needed to supply the city with more police officers.

Bell won the election over Stith with 58 percent of the vote.

The City of Durham is also part of the Research Triangle, which also includes the cities of Raleigh and Chapel Hill. Durham is also home to the mostly African-American college North Carolina Central.

Some four years ago, an incident between a female North Carolina Central student and Duke lacrosse players resulted in a famous scandal which lead to the resignation of Durham County's district attorney Mike Nifong.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Last 10 Films I've Seen





Since this blog only got nine hits yesterday, and my other blog "The Daily Vampire" got 3,000, (how is that possible??!) I will keep this fairly brief!

I recommend Michael Moore's documentary "Capitalism: A Love Story" to my Republican friends. Ironically, they might agree with the film's premise more than I did (I am a Democrat) because as a political realist I was actually in favor of the federal bail out!

A star denotes films that I saw for a second time. A dash indicates if a film was based on a book. It should be noted that got this idea from "Film Comment" magazine, which Gavin Smith does an excellent editing:

1. "In the Loop"
2. "Zombieland"
3. "Where the Wild Things Are"#
4. "Audition" (Japan)
5. "Death at a Funeral"
6. "Bright Star"
7. "Capitalism: A Love Story" (doc)
8. "Naked Lunch"*#
9. "There Will Be Blood"*#
10. "Cold Souls"

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Tarheel Mascot




Today, we are posting photos for the respective mascots of the Virginia Tech Hokies and The North Carolina Tarheels. The two teams will meet in a college football clash in Blacksburg, Va., on Thurs., Oct. 29. The game will be televised on ESPN. I happen to someone who travels between Virginia and North Carolina constantly, so I look foward to seeing the game though due to my schedule I'll be catching the second half!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Quote of the Week- Harold Pinter





In conjunction with my quote from David Mamet on "The Daily Vampire," I am posting a quip from another controversial playwright, the recently deceased Harold Pinter.

Unlike Mamet, Pinter was no conservative and he was very vocal to the Iraq War which he saw as an act of imperialism.

Studio Theatre in Washington, DC, just finsihed a run of Pinter's play "Moonlight" (pictured here), but the stage company will open with "The Solid Gold Cadillac" on Dec. 2.

'Cadillac,'a comedy play was first staged in 1953 and it was written by George S. Kaufman and Howard Teichman. The Studio Theatre production will be directed by Paul Mullins.

Triad Stage in Greensboro, NC, is currently running a production of Mamet's controversial play "Oleanna" through Nov. 8.

Here is a quip from Pinter's play "Moonlight:"

"I would never use obscene language in the office. Certainly not. I kept my obscene language for the home, the one place where it belongs."

Thursday, October 15, 2009

My Endorsements Are In:




I think given that the Republican Party in Virginia has gone far right (their candidate for governor actually graduated from Pat Robertson's Regent University), it is clear that the best choices for state office are the three Democrats.

They are:

Creigh Deeds for governor

Jody Wagner for lt. governor

Steve Shannon for attorney general.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Silly Photo to Fill Space_ "Batman"




I used to watch this kitschy tv serial on reruns from WSLS-TV Channel 10 out of Roanoke, Va., all the time when I was a kid in the late '70s.

Like Bert and Ernie from "Sesame Street," there has been speculation that the dynamic duo was gay, but I suppose only Adam West knows if that is true.

Thankfully I have a job so I can't waste any time watching the show in its entirety on dvd, but then again why am I wasting valuable time on this blog?

Monday, October 12, 2009

Quote of the Week- David Letterman





"I can not sing, dance, or act; what else would I be besides a talk show host?"

Quote of the Week- Conan O'Brien


http://www.topnews.in/light/files/Paris-Hilton-David-Letterman.jpg


Since there are so many late night talk show hosts now (some of whom are making headlines away from their desk), we decided to post quips from most of them on our two respective blogs. Here is one from Conan O'Brien:

"If life gives you lemons, make some kind of fruity juice."

This "Rolling Stone" is from 1996. Alas, one of the magazine's contributors mentioned on the cover (PJ O'Rourke) is now a Republican.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Bonus Quote of the Week: Brandon Flowers of The Killers




This was taken from an interview with Austin Scaggs in the Sept. 17th issue of "Roling Stone" magazine:

"If you're an actor, you have no business making an album, no matter how good you sound in the shower."

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Songs of Our Youth (12 of 12)- "Dear God" by XTC





I suppose the image we are using here (of Pope Benedict) is a bit ironic since this is an anti-religion song that was


reportedly banned in places like Jacksonville, Fla. But, we love the song........!!!

Songs of Our Youth- (11 of 12) "Devil Inside" by INXS




I wonder how much the first issue of "Hot Stuff" is worth now.......

I have several "Hot Stuff" comic books, but I'm afraid they won't go for much on E-bay.

I saw INXS with Ziggy Marley as an opening at the Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke,Va., when I as a senior in high school. It was a great show!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Quote of the Week_ George F. Will




Since we quoted Michael Moore on our other blog, we are moving to the otherside of the political spectrum (no, not me personally!......not that I'm quite as liberal as Mr. Moore) with a quip from conservative commentator and baseball fan George F. Will, who is a Chicago Cubs fan (as am I) who goes to Washington Nationals game but here he is wearing a L.A. Dodgers cap? Well, he doesn't believe in global warming either........?!

"The nicest part about being a pessimist is that you are cnstantly being proven right or pleasantly surprised."