Happy 200th Birthday, Richard Wagner

Greetings to those of you in Cyprus, Finland and Ethiopia and other parts to the world for taking time to read our blog. And, thanks to everyone here in America, who chose to read this as opposed to checking out "Dilbert" in their local newspaper. Of course, hopefully, there is time in your day to read "Dilbert" too!

Today marks the 200th anniversary of classical composer Richard Wagner's  birth. We, in no way, support his anti-Semitic views, but we do admire his tremendous body work, including "Rigoletto" which is one of our favorite operas.

So, we are going to quote the German composer here:

"Whatever my passions demand of me, I become for the time being_ musician, poet,director, author, lecturer, or anything else."

SIDEBAR: We want to wish our kudos to American Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman even though she did not win her "Dancing with the Stars" competition with her dancing partner; that honor went to country singer Kellie Pickler. We know one of them was paired with Mark Ballos and the other one was with Derek Hough, and if you want to know which one is correct then go check out Bing:)

IN THE WHOOPS DEPARTMENT: Ok, I just realized I inadvertently referred to "Rigoletto"as a Wagner opera; it is in fact an Italian opera by Verdi. But, as the great western philosopher Billy Joel once said: "You''re only human; you're supposed to make mistakes."

http://www.bing.com

http://www.dilbert.com

Our Favorite Gymnasts_ Goksu, Vanessa, Aly, et al.

The 2012 London Olympics are coming to a close and we are perhaps the last people in the world to see Eric Idle reprise the famous Monty Python song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"

But, we wanted to look at six Olympic gymnasts from around the world who left an impression with us during the summer games:

1) Goksa Uctas, 21, Turkey (pictured top)_ Since I am a Turkish-American, and each of us watched helplessly in agony during the days of the horrific 1999 earthquake, the Uctas story is a particularly moving one. But, one does not need to be of Turkish heritage to identify with this remarkable athlete and her accomplishments. Uctas was nine years old when the earthquake struck the part of Turkey she was living in. She has gone on to become the first gymnast to represent Turkey at the Olympics. Uctas was recently profiled in "The New York Times." Prior to the Olympics, where she competed on the balance beam, Uctas won a silver medal at the 2009 Mediterranean Games in 2009.

2) Vanessa Ferrari, 21, Italy (pictured center)_ London: With a butterfly tattoo on one of her heels, made more noticeable because most gymnasts perform barefoot, Ferrari represented Italy with an entertaining floor routine. Alas, it was not as technically strong as many of the other gymnasts' routines, so she finished seventh in the competition with a 14.900. Prior to the Olympics, Ferrari, who has a Bulgarian mother, won the 2006 world championships in all-around in Denmark.

3) Aliya Mustafina, 17, Russia, London: Mustafina will leave the Olympics with three medals, including a gold on the uneven bars apparatus, a silver from the team competition and a bronze for the all-around. Mustafina won a tie-breaker with American gymnast Aly Raisman for the bronze. Ironically, Raisman would win a bronze from Romanian gymnast Catalina Ponor for a similar situation.

4) Aly Raisman, 18, USA. London: With three medals, including two golds (team, floor exercise) and a bronze (balance beam), Raisman will leave the UK as the most decorated American gymnast at the Olympics. Her floor music was performed to the Jewish folk song "Hava Nagila" much to the crowd's delight.

5) Sandra Izbasa, 22, Romania. London: Izbasa, a veteran from the 2008 Olympic team that won bronze in Beijing, won a gold on vault and a bronze for team competition. Izbasa finished fifth in the all-around.

6) Oksana Chusovitina, 37, Germany (pictured bottom). London: Yes, that is not a typo, the German gymnast who has also represented Uzbekistan, her home country, and even the Soviet Union (she has been around for quite a while) came to London for a record sixth Olympics. And, Chusovitina performed quite respectfully as she finished fifth on vault right behind her German teammate Janine Berger, 16, who is 21 years younger than the lady from Tashkent.

http://www.dailyhurriyet.com

http://www.vanessaferrari.com

http://www.aliyamustafina.com.ru/english

http://www.rewritingrussiangymnastics.blogspot.com

http://www.muslimwomeninsports.blogsot.com

http://www.london2012.com

http://www.usagym.org

http://www.alyraisman.com

http://www.jewishjournal.com

Kudos to Gabby Douglas, but Shame on NBC

Congratulations to Gabby Douglas, 16, who becomes the third consecutive American gymnast along with Carly Patterson (2004 Athens Olympics) and Nastia Liukin (2008 Beijing Olympics) to win all-around gold. Douglas, who was greatly influenced by Dominique Dawes, a member of the 1996 Olympics gymnastics team that won gold in Atlanta, becomes the first African-American to win an individual gold medal in women's gymnastics.

But, we feel outraged that NBC, the network broadcasting the games in the United States, had to zoom in constantly on Viktoria Komova, 17, the Russian gymnast who ended up finishing second as she underperformed on the floor exercise, her last event.

This was yet another dubious moment for the network which has been scorned by American Olympic viewers on social media outlets, such as Twitter and Facebook. NBC was also criticized for not airing a moment of silence to the victims of the July 7, 2005, London terrorist attacks at the opening ceremonies of the games.

There was yet another controversy in women's gymnastics at the games, and for a second time, it involved American gymnast Aly Raisman, as she lost a tie-breaker to Russian gymnast Aliya Mustafina, 17, because the Russian gymnasts' lowest score, which occurred on the balance beam, was dropped.

Earlier, Raisman had edged out teammate Jordyn Wieber, the defending world champion, for the second American slot in the all-around competition. A provocative new rule states that only two gymnasts from each country may compete irregardless of scores.

http://www.chalkbowl.com/gabrielle

http://www.gabrielledouglas.com