Oscar Predictions Teaser

Tomorrow, we are hoping to post some of our Oscar predictions on this blog as well as our sister blog "The Daily Vampire." This is, of course, on the presumption that the rest of the week will be less whacky that today has been so far. But, hey I did find the car keys so I can't complain!

Today, we are featuring an image of an Oscar the Grouch t-shirt with this entry, assuming that the hot-link works! We had an unusual problem last year when we were trying to put up an image of the Bill Griffith comic book character "Zippy the Pinhead" on one of our blogs, but we still love the strip even though it took quite a while to fix that mess!

I actually watched "Sesame Street" as a kid in the 1970s on Blue Ridge Public TV (WBRA) in Roanoke, Va. Alas, these days arch right-wing Republicans are trying to cut PBS and NPR funding as either a measure to cut federal funding or make Bill O'Reilly happy (political bias: We presume the later).

Tonight, WBRA is showing "The Secrets of the Dead" at 10 p.m., which focuses on a 2004 discovery of headless Roman skeleteons in York, England.

And, we also want to wish a happy birthday to former UCLA gymnast and Canadian Olympian Yvonne Tousek. She was part of a team that included standout Olympic gymnassts like Kate Richardson, Kristen Maloney and Jamie Dantzcher. The Bruins are also the current reigning NCAA champs in women's gymnastics. Last night, junior Taunty Frattone score a 9.95 on vault in a win over North Carolina State.

Quotes of the Week- Tennessee Williams

As of today, we are including quotes from famous people, either alive or dead, who are from one of the 32 countries participating in The World Cup, taking place in South Africa later this week.

Today, representing our country, The United States (or l'etats unis as they say in France) we go with the late, great playwright Tennessee Williams, best known for penning "A Streetcar Named Desire," which was made even more famous when it became a Marlon Brando movie.

Here is the quote from Williams who gave us that inspirational line: "STELLA! STELLLLLLLAAAAAAAA!" :

"Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth."

For those who are not hip to American theatre history, we can also give you this quip from the alternative comic strip character Zippy the Pinhead who actually has a Twitter account! Though, these lines could very well come from his creator Bill Griffith:

"If I am elected no one will never have to do their laundry again!"

Tweet of the Moment_ For Our Friends in Georgia

This tweet was posted last night by 'Zippy the Pinhead' (or perhaps his creator, cartoonist Bill Griffith):

"I'm gliding over a NUCLEAR WASTEDUMP near Atlanta, Georgia!"

I also saw on Twitter last night that the Denver Food Guy had posted a recipe for Greek octopus dishes, which reminds me that given the current economic crisis this may (or may not) be a good time to go to Samos---that is a Greek island 35 miles off the coast of Kushadasi, Turkey.

And, we saw that some fringe right-wing lunatic in Marshall, Tex., posted a billboard asking if those of us who voted for President Barack Obama were 'embarrased yet?'

I was amused by this for several reasons: 1) Obama is a good president--certainly 10 times better than George W. Bush 2) Sarah Palin has become even more of a diva nightmare since the presidential campaign, and let's face it if John McCain had won the election she would be the one actually running the country?! and 3) Texas was not even a swing state, so essentially any votes cast for Obama in the Lonestar State really didn't matter much.

Interestingly enough, The Republican Party has decided to follow me?! on Twitter.

Quote of the Week- Happy Birthday Elvis

We were actually going to publish this over the weekend when Elvis Presley and Richard M. Nixon both had birthdays, but I got sick (see last entry, which now contains a photo of cartoonist Bill Griffith).

If they were both alive, Presley would have turned 75 on Jan. 8 and Nixon would have turned 96 on Jan. 9.

While researching this piece, I found out that there was a tv movie called "Elvis Meets Nixon" made in 1997, but the director of that film Allen Arkush is believed to be one of the worst filmmakers around......of course, having said that, I can't recall anything he's made right off-hand!

Here is our quote from Elvis:

"Look guys, if you're just going to stare at me, I'm going to bed!"