Showing posts with label Argentina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Argentina. Show all posts

Friday, September 18, 2015

10 for 10 (5th Entry): Love Those Greyhounds

Greetings to our blog readers in Argentina, Israel, and Russia........

The sport of greyhound racing which is popular in many American states including West Virginia is highly controversial, but in recent years, awareness has been made about adopting retired greyhounds, we will provide two links to greyhound rescue organizations in Virginia and North Carolina.

Additionally, we will provide links to animal shelters in Georgia and Florida.....

At this hour, we are delighted to hear writer Steve Almond who has written a critical book on American football on the BBC World Service; we have been a fan of his work since he wrote pieces for "The Oxford American." Almond, a long-time Oakland Raiders fan, also recently wrote an opinion essay on the need for greater civic action to protect football players from concussions.

Here are the dog links:

http://www.virginiagreyhounds.org/

http://www.greyhoundfriends.com/

http://albanyhumanesociety.com/ (animal shelter of Albany, Georgia)

http://www.thehsmc.org/ (animal shelter of Ocala, Florida)

http://againstfootball.org/ (Steve Almond's book)



Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Our Top Sunday Comic Strips from the Roanoke Times for the Week of December 7th

Greetings to our blog readers in Costa Rica, Argentina and Brazil!

This week, "Doonesbury," which had an exceptional gag with scenes from the comic strip's six main characters and their unique story lines in six different panels. Since the comic strip reminded us of a soap opera, we decided to use an image with the cast of "Young and the Restless" to go with this Sunday's "Doonesbury," but we somehow doubt that Garry Trudeau watches soap operas?!

"Pearls Before Swine" featured a satire of a job interview in which Rat, who has even fewer people skills than Dilbert (for those of you in Slovakia Dilbert is in the comic strip "Dilbert;" we're not making fun as you are our favorite former Yugoslav republic**) tries to be candid and honest to his futility.Oh btw, the snazzy Mexican men's dress shoes are used as our image for "Pearls."

Lastly, "Get Fuzzy," which usually revolves around squabbling between a cat and a third comes in third place as the house pets have it out over a broccoli casserole, or something like that!

Here is our top ten from the Sunday Dec. 7th "Roanoke Times," which does not carry "Rhymes Before Orange," WUMO," Brewster Rockit: Space Guy," "Sherman's Lagoon," "Dustin," "The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee"........................but, hey still have "Hi and Lois"!

1) Doonesbury

2) Pearls Before Swine

3) Get Fuzzy

4) Dilbert

5) Jump Start (highest rating ever for this comic on our survey)

6) Garfield

7) Speed Bump

8) Zits

9) Agnes

10) Pickles

http://www.roanoke.com

http://www.doonesbury.com

http://www.gocomics.com











**_ This is a joke! Unlike quite a few Americans, I know that Slovenia is the country that was once part of Yugoslavia.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Top 10 Cities We Want to See in the World: When in Rome....



Greetings to our blog readers in Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo, alas none of your cities made it into the top ten, but one city in Asia got through.

The reason why Rome (top image) and Miami (middle image, Miami Dolphins cheerleaders) rank so high is because I've been to the airports in both cities, but I've never had a chance to visit either of them directly.

Vancouver, Canada (bottom image), was a place I had planned to visit in 1994, but I ended up going to Toronto and Montreal instead.

This is a companion entry to our Daily Vampire entry (see link)

Here is our top ten:

1. Rome, Italy

2. Miami, Fla. USA

3. Vancouver, BC, Canada

4. Marrakesh, Morocco

5. Buenos Aires, Argentina

6. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

7. Stockholm, Sweden

8. Barcelona, Spain

9. Berlin, Germany

10. Kuala Lampur, Malaysia

http://www.lonelyplanet.com

http://www.roughguides.com

Monday, October 20, 2014

Our Favorite Comic Strips from the Sunday Roanoke Times (Oct. 12th edition)

Greetings to our blog readers in New Zealand, Kenya and Argentina as well as our domestic friends in Alaska, Hawaii and Kansas.

We are taking a H.G. Wells time machine back to last Sunday as we did not get around to posting our favorite comic strips from a week ago Sunday, but we have them for your consumption right here; for the latest survey go to our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" at: http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

There is a major surprise in this survey as we rank "Zits," a comic strip about a teenage boy who hasn't aged since Bruce Springsteen's 1984 album "Born in the USA" came out and that was well, first when I was a teenager! (Actually, we just researched and "Zits" actually debuted in 1997). In the Oct. 12th issue, Jeremy, the kid who never gets passed the wonder years is seen loading textbooks on a conveyor belt as he takes them out of a '70s VW van (top image). This is perhaps the funniest "Zits" strip we have seen in ages.

The silver medal goes to American swimmer Michael Phelps (we were just trying to see if you were paying attention). It actually goes to "Doonesbury," right-wing comic talk show host Dennis Miller's favorite comic strip (yeah, I somehow doubt that since "Doonesbury" is brilliant progressive satire). which makes fun of how our government makes back room deal with Middle Eastern dictators. Since the dictator in the strip is a fictional character who looks like Saddam Hussein of Iraq, we went with an image of sheep for the comic strip (center image; these are actually sheep in Turkey).

In this place, we have the always funny Stefan Pastis comic strip "Pearls Before Swine," which features Pig offending two blue birds which leaves his frenemy Rat to come to his comfort.

Here is our top ten:

1) Zits

2) Doonesbury

3) Pearls Before Swine

4) Dilbert

5) Get Fuzzy

6) Speed Bump

7) Garfield

8) Non-Sequitir

9) Agnes

10) Jump Start

http://zitscomics.com/

http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine

http://www.doonesbury.com

http://www.dilbert.com

http://www.dennismillerradio.com/

http://www.michaelmoore.com (web site for Michael Moore, we try to abide by the 'equal time' rule)

PS: Dennis Miller will be performing live in Colorado Springs, Colo., a right-wing evangelical enclave that's also home to the Air Force Academy; I imagine he will have a large crowd there.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Today is Our 9th Birthday....

Greetings to our blog readers in Malaysia, Jordan and Argentina.

It was indeed nine years when we posted our very first entry on here.

We must profess that we had no idea what to blog about when we first started. In fact, one thing we posted was our very own grocery list!

Friday, January 10, 2014

Little Thinkers Quotes (3 of 16): Marilyn Monroe


Greetings to our blog readers in Dubai, Japan and Argentina.

Our quote today comes from Marilyn Monroe. Wasn't she great in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (we're kidding! It was Audrey Hepburn who starred in that film; Marilyn starred in "Some Like it Hot").

Here is her quip:

"Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered."

http://www.marilynmonroe.com

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Soccer Week (3 of 8) International Players in Turkish Super Lig

There are no American players in the Turkish Premiere League as Maurice Edu of Bursaspor headed to play in the English Premiere League, but there is one Canadian. He is Atiba Hutchinson (pictured) who left PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands to play for Istanbul powerhouse Besiktash.

Here are 11 international players in Turkey:

1. Pablo Batalla (Argentina) plays for Bursspor (his name is not spelled right on the tags)
 
2. Ufuk Budak (Azerbaijan) plays for Eskisehirspor

3. Mervan Celik (Sweden) plays for Ankara Genclerbirligi

4. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast) plays for GalataSaray

5. Anton Fernidand (England) plays for Antalyaspor

6. Atiba Hutchinson (Canada) plays for Besiktash

7. Marc Janko (Austria) plays for Trabzonspor

8. Dirk Kuyt (Netherlands) plays for Fenerbahce

9. Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands) plays for GalataSaray

10. Rodrigo Tello (Chile) plays for Eskisehirspor)

11. Abdou Traone (Burkina Faso) plays for Gaziantepspor 


http://www.turkish-football.com/

http://turkeyfootball.blogspot.com/


Friday, May 3, 2013

Soccer Night_ Big Week for Monterrey

Even though they are in ninth place in the Mexican Premiere League, Monterrey was able to fellow Mexican first league team Santos Laguna for the CONACAF championship; the tournament also involved three American teams from the MLS: The Los Angeles Galaxy, Seattle Sounders and Houston Dynamo.

Veteran Mexican international goalie Oswaldo Sanchez (pictured top) is the captain of Santos Laguna, a team which has four American players, including emerging star Benji Daniel. The middle image is the logo for the UANL Tigers which are in a three-way tie for first with America and Atlas.

The lower image is of Argentinian national Jose Maria Basanta, who is the captain of Monterrey.

Here are LAST week's scores:

1. Puebla 1 Atlas 1, tie

2. Club Leon 1 Atlante 0

3. Queretaro 2 Guadalajara 1

4. Pumas 3 Chiapas 0

5. San Luis Potosi 1 Tijuana 0

6. Morelia 2 Toluca 1

7. Cruz Azul 1 Santos Laguna 0

8. Monterrey 1 UANL 0

9. America 4 Pachua 2

http://www.futbol.univision.com (In Spanish)

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Catholicism by the Numbers

With images above of a Catholic church in Russia and a sheep in Uzbekistan, here is a look at the numbers of Catholicism in countries where they are minorities.

Though I am not a Catholic myself, I thought with the new coronation of Pope Francis I of Argentina and Easter Sunday occurring tomorrow that this would be a subject of interest:

Azerbaijan 400

India 19.9 million

Israel 100,000

Japan 509,000

Kazakhstan 250,000

Russia 750,000

Uzbekistan 5,000

http://www.catholic.org

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Major League Soccer Scoreboard

Yes, perhaps some European soccer fans are unaware of this, but there is professional soccer league in the United States, which also has three Canadian clubs, called Major League Soccer.

This weekend, league play began in the MLS and it was a good weekend for traditionally strong teams, such as the Los Angeles Galaxy, the Houston Dynamo (pictured) and the Columbus Crew.

For the L.A. Galaxy, American soccer player Mike Magee had three goals (38th min., 68th min. and 74th min.) to lead this team to a 4-0 dismantling of the Chicago Fire.

The Houston Dynamo were helped by a late goal from American futboler Ricardo Clark in the 89th minute to a 2-0 win over our beloved D.C. United.

But, another of our favorite teams the Portland Timbers, which are featured in the cult tv show "Portlandia" on IFC, got a slightly surprising 3-3 tie with the New York Red Bulls. For the Timbers, there were goals from Liberian national Darlington Nagbe and Argentinian player Diego Valeri, which has been nominated for MLS Goal of the Week. Another Argentinian Fabian Espindola kicked in two goals for the Red Bulls in the nationally televised game.

Another Argentinian Frederico Higuain, a stand-out for the Columbus Crew, helped his team soundly defeat Chivas USA of Los Angeles.

Two Canadian teams the Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC also did battle on the field. Gershon Koffie, from Ghana, scored the lone goal for the Whitecaps in the 60th minute of play for their 1-0 triumph.

Here are the scores; the New England Revolution did not play this week:

Sporting Kansas City 3 Philadelphia Union 1

Houston Dynamo 2 D.C. United 0

Vancouver Whitecaps 1 Toronto FC 0

FC Dallas 1 Colorado Rapids 0

Real Salt Lake 2 San Jose Earthquakes 0

L.A. Galaxy 4 Chicago Fire 0

New York Red Bulls 3 Portland Timbers 3

Montreal Impact 1 Seattle Sounders 0

Columbus Crew 3 Chivas USA 0

http://www.mls.com


http://www.houstondynamo.com

http://www.portlandtimbers.com


http://www.lagalaxy.com

http://www.newyorkredbulls.com


Sunday, July 29, 2012

Parade of Nations (One of Four)- Turkey to New Zealand

Today, we start our first of four blog entries on the Parade of Nations, which occurred on Friday during the opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics; there are also four entries on the subject on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire."

We start with Turkey, the homeland of my late father, then Great Britain (United Kingdom), which is the host country, and the rest of the nations will be in alphabetical order.

Turkey-Nesilhan Darnel (pictured top, women's volleyball)

Great Britain- Chris Hoy (cyclist)

Argentina- Luciana Aymar (pictured below, women's field hockey)

Belgium- Tia Hellebaut (women's track and field)

France- Laura Flessel-Colovic (women's fencing)

Germany- Natascha Keller (women's field hockey)

Netherlands/Holland- Dorian von Rjsselberghe (women's windsurfing)

New Zealand- Nick Willis (pictured middle, men's track and field)

http://www.olympic.org

http://www.tvf.org.tr/

http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

http://www.welcomeargentina.com

http://www.newzealand.com

http://www.goturkey.com

Friday, June 29, 2012

Quote of the Day/Week- Che Guevara

We continue our series of quotes from figures who have been made into plush doll toys by the American novelty company The Unemployed Philosophers Guild with a quote from the highly controversial Argentinian revolutionist Che Guevara (1929-1967), whose image can be seen on Cuban currency, since he helped Fidel Castro come to power.

Che tried a similar revolution in Bolivia, but the results were much different. In fact, he was assassinated there at age 39 by the Bolivian army, with help from the CIA. The village where he was executed La Higurea or "The Fig Tree" is now a surprising international tourist destination. Tourists can walk the trail and literally follow in Che's footsteps, but hopefully, they will not be greeted by a firing squad.

On film, Che has been portrayed at least three times, the most curious of which has to be Omar Sharif, an Egyptian actor in the film "Che!" (1969), where the late Jack Palance played Castro. It has a mere 4.5 on the Internet Movie Database.

Since Che was a man with far, far-left views which were fervently capitalism, many find the merchandising of his image, particularly on t-shirts, to be quiet ironic.

Here is the quote from Che:

"Many will call me an adventurer_ and that I am, only one of a different sort: one of those who risks his skin to prove his platitudes."

READ The FINE PRINT: As much as we love quoting Che Guevara, who has always been surprisingly popular, we recognize he is a controversial figure and we do not advocate Marxism as a political philosophy. But, of course, Marxists are welcome on our blogs as our Republicans!

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/bolivia

http://www.philosophersguild.com

http://www.marxists.org

http://www.che-lives.com

http://www.cheguevara.com

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Top 10 Countries to Run Away To If Romney Wins

Yes, if former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney ascends to the Oval Office, those of us who are politically center-left, Democrats, progressives and even perhaps even Libertarians may want to seek shelter or political asylum in a foreign country as one will quickly realize his 'I'll find a job for you' will work only for members of his billionaires boys club.

So, here are ten suggestions to get away from it all for at least four years should Armageddon strike as it did when George W. Bush was elected in 2000:


1) Slovenia (pictured above): Amazingly enough this former Yugoslav republic is flourishing and the country recently made headlines for actually naming a bridge after Chuck Norris!

2) Argentina: Like most of of Latin America, Argentina had a turbulent period in the 1970s, but happy days are apparently here again.

3) Costa Rica: This will give a chance to finally see a blue frog!

4) Iceland: 24 hours of daylight during the spring and summer months will allow one to play golf at 3:00 a.m. Iceland Air recently began flights to Denver!

5) Norway: Kayaking in the fjords should give a person the opportunity to forget about partisan gridlock on the Beltway.

6) South Africa: Could give you a chance to see lions and cheetahs.

7) Cyprus (pictured below): The Turks and Greeks will probably argue over this island nation for centuries to come, but there are lots of great beaches and if problems resurface there is always the American embassy in Nicosia (the castle pictured is actually in Kyrenia; to let you on the in-joke, Tilly Gokbudak, the 'executive editor of this blog' is a Turkish-American).

8) Chile: See Argentina

9) Estonia: Tajikistan, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia.....yes, most of the former Soviet Republics have not really benefited from the collapse of the USSR, but Estonia is managing quite well.

10) Canada: Winner of the coin flip over France.


http://www.slovenia.info 

http://www.tourism-costarica.com

http://www.visiticeland.com

http://progressive-blogs.com


Thursday, February 9, 2012

Top 10 Countries to Run To If GOP Whacko Becomes Prez






We will probably have better things to do on March 5th, when the remaining Republican candidates have yet another debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif. One of those even better things to do might be to watch a marathon of the British '70s sitcom "Are You Being Served?" (the show airs on PBS stations in North Carolina on Saturday nights at 9:30 p.m.) on dvd.

Here is a list of possible countries to run to if the likes of Rick Santorum (pictured), Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich becomes president:

1. Norway (pictured)

2. Argentina

3. Australia

4. Honduras

5. Chile

6. Greece

7. Denmark (yes, we like the idea of seeking political asylum in a Scandinavian country)

8. Canada (yeah, this is a bit of an easy choice)

9. Croatia

10. Poland

Yeah, we aren't quite zany enough to put North Korea on this list.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Quote of the Day/Week- Evita Peron




If my dear sister Sibel Isley (not her real name) who lives in Provo, Utah (not her actual place of residence), actually reads this and she is contemplating getting me a very expensive gag gift for my 42nd birthday in March, she may think about getting me tickets for the broadway revival of the 1976 musical "Evita!" in which Ricky Martin will play Argentinian revolutionst Che Guevara (this is NOT a joke).

The show is scheduled to open in March, and Elena Roger, 37, who is actually Argentinian, will play the title role of Evita Peron (1919-1952).

All of this brings us to the subject of our quip today which is from the feminist icon Evita Peron, and ironically the actress who will play her on broadway has already outlived her as Evita died from cancer at age 33.

"Evita" was turned into a 1996 film with Madonna playing the title role. As a Turkish-American, I was amused to see that Oliver Stone worked with Alan Parker, who also directed the film version of "Evita." They had worked together on a film called "Midnight Express," which for obvious reasons (note to the cinematically clueless: the 1978 film does not show Turkey in the best light, and I have called the film blatant, racist trash) is not in my dvd collection.

So, here is the quote from Evita; this month we are featuring quotes from famous Latin Americans on both blogs:

"Answer violence with violence. If one of us falls today, five of them must fall tomorrow."

SIDEBAR ONE: The answer to our Road Quiz entry on Saturday is C) 1 hour, 40 minutes.

SIDEBAR TWO: As an American who is getting into European soccer, I must profess the UEFA Champions League Cup seems a bit confusing. Case in point, the Greek team Olympiacos upset English power Arsenal 3-1 in a game that was played in Greece today, but Arsenal is the team that goes on to the next round, and conversely Olympiacos does not. But, then again, the American college football bowl system even has us wondering what is going on!

Here is a partial list of scores from today's UEFA action; Chelsea, Marseille and Zenit also advance:

Porto (Portugal) 0 Zenit (Russia) 0, tie

Marseille (France) 3 Dortmund (Germany) 2

Olympiacos 3 Arsenal 1

Genk (Belgium) 1 Bayer Leverkhusen (Germany) 1, tie

SIDEBAR THREE: Various media reports that came out today said that Cory Smoot (Flattus Maximus), the guitarist for the head-banging heavy metal band GWAR known for their wild costumes, died of natural causes at age 34 from a coronary artery. Smoot's death occured in early November. The band, which is originally from Richmond, Va., said that profits from their next record "When Worlds Collide" that comes out next year will go to the Smoot Family Fund.

GWAR has also announced through their web site that the scheduled 2012 European tour will continue as scheduled; they first play Antwerp, Belgium, on Jan. 11th; the band will also play Oslo, Norway, which is a surprising hot spot for heavy metal on Jan. 29th.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Quote of the Day- Tarkan



We conclude our month-long series on quotes from famous Turkish people past and present with a quip from Tarkan, the pop mega-star, who has sold millions of records not only in Turkey, but also in Argentina, Germany, France, Greece and just about every place else except the United States. He is best-known for songs like "Simarik," "Dudu" and "Kuzu Kuzu."

The fact that he usually sings in Turkish has a lot to do with this, though on the advice of the late, great Turkish-American record producer Ahmet Ertegun, Tarkan did try to sing some songs in English. And, alas, it did sound like William Shatner's ("Star Trek"'s original Captain Kirk, for those of you born after Bush 41 was president) version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhadsopy," which is in record stores now (we are actually not making that up!).



Here is Tarkan's quote:

"Dancing and singing are always like games to me. I sang constantly."

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Quote of the Week- Che Guevara




Today, we start our month-long series of quotes from fringe, far left-wing radicals, both past and present. Since we quipped Malcolm X (1925-1965) on our other blog "The Daily Vampire," we thought we'd go with another man who was shot to death at age 39, the Marxist Argentinian revoluntist Che Guevara (1928-1967). Che was killed in Bolivia, and his remains were only discovered in recent years.

Many right-wingers in America hate the fact that there are supposedly vast numbers of very liberal people wearing Che t-shirts, though I've only seen two people wear them in the last two years. One was at a coffeeshop in Boulder, Colo, and the other was at a nightclub in Chapel Hill, NC. However, last week, I did see a twenty-something guy at a Waffle House somewhere in North Carolina wearing a t-shirt with the slogan "We Shall Overcome." It was actually a white kid and his shirt showed the rebel-flag hovering over the Capitol Building. I guess he will never appreciate the sacrifices that Martin Luther King, Jr., made for our country. But, of course, extremists on our side of the fence are much worse for America than racist bigots (sarcasm intended!).

I do sympathize with the point expressed by the ultra-conservative magazine News Max and the right-wing blog ihatethemedia.com (I suppose they love Fox News though, which is part of the media, right?!) that Che did needlessly kill lots of innocent people, a point which has been well-documented.

But, the man himself is quite a fascinating figure, and no matter what one thinks of the Cuban Revolution, it remains astonishing that Che met with Fidel Castro in a hotel in Mexico City, and they successfully organized a rebellion and took over the central government of Cuba. Actually, this ironically sounds like what the Tea Partiers would like to do to President Barack Obama as I'm sure the political good-will for killing Osama bin Laden expired at 11:45 p.m., Sunday night, a mere 15 minutes after our president announced the success of the mission in Pakistan. Am I right, Bill O'Reilly?

So, here is this quote from Che; for the record I am not a Marxist though I would classified as one in rural Idaho:

"Let me say, at the risk of seeming ridicilous, that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love."

As for the answer to last week's road quiz, Lynchburg, Va., and Wilmington, Del., are five hours and 30 minutes apart though we suspect traffic between Washington, DC, and Baltimore would substantially add to that commute.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Status Update_ Someone from E-Harmony Must Read Our Blog




Status Update for 1/26: "Wow! Someone from E-Harmony might actually be reading our blog because I was matched with an Asian girl today!"

Amazingly enough, after saying that I would like to see E-Harmony match me with an Asian girl, and a few hours later, that's exactly what happened.

Since local newspapers appear to be waging an uphill battle against new media, we thought we'd mention a couple of good small town newspapers.

For starters, there is "The Carrboro Citizen" in Carrboro, NC, which adjoins Chapel Hill at the Flying Pig at the Crook's Corner restaurant (if you've been to Chapel Hill, you'll get the joke).

Their headline story this week is that Benjamin Charis told a gathering at the First Baptist Church in Chapel Hill to be renew efforts to remember Martin Luther King, Jr., and his legacy. Personally, I consider "The Carrboro Citizen" to be the best community newspaper in the Tarheel State.

As for my alma mater "The Salem Times-Register" in Salem, Va. (I worked there as a reporter from 1996-97), one of the stories on their web sites is that Cynthia Munley (who happens to be a personal friend) got her husband Frank Munley, a professor at Roanoke College, a portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr., marching from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., as done by artist Adam Reinhard.

In international news, we learned (from the radio actually) that a 32-year-old woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina, attempted suicide by jumping from the 23rd floor of her hotel only to collide with an incoming taxi which broke her fall and ironically saved her life. Of course, she is now 'in hospital' (as the Brits say) recovering from her injuries.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Top Ten Places to Move to if Sarah Becomes Prez





My good friend Debbie Collins, a public librarian in Bethesda, Md., (pse- see other blog) has told me that if Sarah Palin becomes the next president, she will leave the country for The Land of Blue Frogs (Costa Rica).

I made a similar list in October on our other blog "The Daily Vampire," in which I named Iceland as my top choice, but Ms. Collins is inclined to go with warmer weather.

Interestingly enough, Mrs. Collins picked two Muslim countries in Morocco (she told me she's always wanted to go to Tangiers, the setting of William Burroughs's cult novel "Naked Lunch") and the United Arab Emirates (she said: "I hear there's lots of money in Dubai). She is not Muslim herself.

Two cold countries, Canada and Denmark, made her list, but she professed I was nuts for putting France on my top ten 'Escape from Sarah' list (it was number six on my list).

Canada was also one of three countries to make both of our lists, along with Argentina and Greece.

Here is her list, if you have one of your "Escape from Sarah" lists, email me at tango74@aol.com

1. Costa Rica

2. Greece

3. Brazil

4. South Africa

5. New Zealand

6. Argentina

7. Canada

8. Denmark

9. Morocco

10. United Arab Emirates

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

50 Beers From Around the Globe- Cerveza Quilmes (Argentina)



Today's entry focuses on Cervez Quilmes, the most popular brew in Argentina so much so that the brand is considered a national symbol (according to Wikipedia).

Quilmes has been brewed since 1888, and it can not only be found in bars in Buenos Aires, but also in Mexico, Honduras, Peru, Spain, France, Italy and apparently here in the United States.

The beer also sponsors Argentina's soccer team, which fared well in the World Cup until they met Germany which beat them 4-0!

While researching this piece, we came across an informative and interesting beer blog (brbeerscene.com) from Eric Ducote of Baton Rouge, La.

We gather from the blog that Eric is traveling or recently came back from Seattle.

While Googling bars in Seattle, we came across The Alibi Room located in the historic Pike Place Market.

We have no idea if they have any beer from Argentina or not, but it sure looks like a hip, happening place!