Ten Things to Know: Cold War Remembered

1) "The Originalist," a play about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, arguably the second most conservative members of 'The Supremes' after Clarence Thomas, is extending its run at Arena Stage in Washington, DC, until May 31st. The play stars Edward Gero as Scalia. The play was written by John Strand and the production is directed by Molly Smith. (The justice is pict. top, not the actor playing him on stage).

2) The Robert Cray Band will perform at the Harvester Performance Center in Rocky Mount, Va., one hour south of Roanoke, on May 5th.

3) CINE Cinema Bar Cafe, an independent cinema in Athens, Ga., will be screening shorts in a program entitled The Best Films of the New York International Children's Film Festival on May 2nd and 3rd.

4) According to the BBC, China has overtaken France in wine production. China is however still second behind Spain. America has the highest wine consumption with France and Italy ranking second and third.

5) The BBC also reported that Mustafa Akinci, a center-left politician has won the presidential election for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a country that is only recognized by Turkey. Akinci defeated incumbent conservative Dervis Eroglu by gaining 60-percent of the popular vote. Akinci promises to make stronger efforts to unify the divided island nation of Cyprus.

6) Two of European soccer's most-anticipated weekend soccer games, Arsenal vs. Chelsea in the EPL and Benfica vs. Porto in Portugal, both concluded in 0-0 ties.

7) Author Richard Martin will speak about his new book "Coal Wars" at the Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colo., on April 30th.

8) Novelist Mary Costello will read from her latest work "Academy Street" about an Irish immigrant to New York on May 1st at Politics and Prose, an independent bookstore, in Washington, DC.

9) According to Uberfacts, the Soviet Union refused to hold the 1980 Paralympics because the nation claimed it did not have any disabled athletes.(1980 Olympics, pict. center)

10) On this day in 1965, CBS reporting legend Edward R. Murrow, who grew up on a family farm near Greensboro, NC, died at age 57. (pict. bottom)

http://www.arenastage.org/

https://www.harvester-music.com/

http://www.athenscine.com/intro.php

http://boulderbookstore.indiebound.com/

http://www.politics-prose.com/


http://www.athenscine.com/intro.php

Quote of the Week-Italian Playwright Dario Fo

Today, we continue quoting famous Italians this month (and, we will add one in July) by quipping playwright Dario Fo (b. 1926) who is best-known for his play "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" (1970). Interestingly enough, the play had its American debut at the famed Washington, D.C., playhouse Arena Stage. The theatre is now performing the Tennessee Williams classic "The Glass Menagerie."

Fo's plays deal with themes, such as Italy's dealings with organized crime, the Catholic church's political stance on abortion and the Middle East.

Here is the quote from the playwright who also penned "Trumpets and Rasberries" (1981):

"Comedy makes the subversion of the existing state of affairs possible."

We first heard about Fo through a Jeopardy question, of all things.

SIDEBAR: This will give us a good preparation for our upcoming People with Long Names List, Part Two, which we hope to post within the next few weeks.

We have recently become more interested in tennis after watching an HBO documentary on the rivalry between John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg between the years 1979-1982.

So, here are the results of today's women's quarterfinals tennis matches from Wimbledon.

For starters, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat the Austrian Tamira Paszek. The Russian tennis goddess Maria Sharapova destroyed Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova. In a close match, Sabine Lisicki of Germany won over Marion Bartoli.

And, finally, it a match between two eastern Europeans with long, difficult games, the Czech star Petra Kvitova edged Bulgarian Tsetana Pironkova.

We certainly hope we got the results right, and perhaps more importantly spelled all these names correctly!