Potluck Quote of the Day (5 of 10): Muhammad Ali

Today's quote of the day comes from the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) who died earlier this year. We found this quote on a tribute by Keith Knight in his political cartoon series "The K-Chronicles." We are also happy to learn that Knight now resides in Chapel Hill,NC, which puts him in the same state as our good friend Chris Knight (no relation, in fact Keith is black, and Chris is white) who is based in Reidsville.

Ali's legacy continues through the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky.

Here is today's potluck quote of the day: "If you even dream of beating me, you'd better wake up and apologize."

http://www.alicenter.org

http://www.kchronicles.com

http://www.muhammadali.com

We are featuring Ali today as a tribute to the 2016 Rio Olympics. On our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogpsot.com we have a quote from Romanian gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci.

Top Ten Sunday Washington Post Comic Strips from May 24th: Selfie Narcissism is Vast and Growing

Greetings to our blog readers in Slovenia, Pakistan, and Canada....

Today, we look at our ten favorite comic strips from the Sunday May 24th edition of "The Washington Post" as we listen to an old Doc Watson bluegrass song on "Back Porch Music" from WUNC-FM (Chapel Hill, NC)........

Both "WuMo" and "Lio" made fun of the selfie sticks which are apparently retailing for $30 at Target stores here in the United States. "Lio" went one step further by putting Frankenstein taking a selfie with Lio, the ten-year-old boy who is the title character of the comic strip.

Though it did not make our top ten "Mark Trail" had a cute educational strip about gorillas; it even featured King Kong.

Here is the top ten:

1) WuMo

2) Lio

3) Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

4) Speed Bump

5) Foxtrot

6) The Argyle Sweater

7) Sherman's Lagoon

8) Pearls Before Swine

9) Dustin

10) Knight Life

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

Top Ten Comics from Sunday, March 29th Washington Post: An Homage to The Far Side

Greetings to our blog readers in New Zealand, Croatia and Turkey.........and to our friends in North Carolina (listening to the song "The Man I Used To Be" by John Howie Jr. on "Back Porch Music" on WUNC-FM (NPR-Chapel Hill, NC).

We are going into our back stacks for a great comics section in the March 29th edition of "The Washington Post," which was remarkable at every level.


Our top strip from this section is "Lio," which featured a tribute to Gary Larson's "The Far Side" comic strips from the 1980s; cows, house pets and aliens were both featured on a residential front lawn in suburbia.

Scott Hilburn's "The Argyle Sweater" depicted two teenage frogs coming into mama's kitchen after a baseball game in which 'they caught a fly.' Perhaps, Kermit the Frog would be proud.

The bronze goes to Denmark as the cheese nation's import illustrated why it is perhaps not a good idea to be a clueless highway department worker when you are paving a road around a place like the Grand Tetons mountains in Wyoming (pictured bottom).

Here is our comics survey:

1. Lio

2. The Argyle Sweater

3. WuMo

4. Rhymes with Orange

5. Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

6. Barney and Clyde

7. Prickly City

8. Sherman's Lagoon

9. Knight Life

10. Reply All

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

Our Favorite Comics from Sunday, Jan. 18th from Comics Kingdom: Bleeker Rules Again.....

Greetings to our blog readers in Switzerland, Malaysia and Zimbabwe as well as those of you who reside in Cong. David Price's (D-NC) congressional district, which I believe includes Chapel Hill, Durham and Fayetville, so Cong. Price represents Chapel Hill on Capitol Hill (Stephan Pastis might like the pun, well maybe not!)....

"Pearls Before Swine," which is Pastis' comic strip is not actually distributed by Comics Kingdom, but "Hi and Lois" is. Today, we take a slight departure from the norm,  and focus on our favorite comic strips from the distributor rather than a given Sunday newspaper. This gives us a chance to rank "Zippy the Pinhead," one of our favorite comic strips that has a loyal cult following but is not in many newspapers, especially those in small markets, like (presumably) Altoona, Pa, Dayton, Ohio, and Charleston, W.Va.

This week, Bill Griffith, who draws "Zippy" featured an homage to the old "Nancy" comic strip from yesteryear.

Our images for today are from 1) bread bowls, which are featured in the Sunday comic strip for "Six Chix" where a café is literally serving everything imaginable in a bread bowl, 2) "Are You Being Served?," an old English sitcom which our fellow blogger and friend Chris Knight from Reidsville, NC, adores for the comic strip "Retail" and 3) a shark for "Sherman's Lagoon."

Here is our Comics Kingdom top ten:

1) Bleeker the Rechargeable Dog

2) Bizarro

3) Zippy the Pinhead

4) Six Chix

5) Retail

6) Between Friends

7) Sherman's Lagoon

8) The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee

9) Take It from the Tinkersons

10) Piranha Club

http://bleekercomics.com/

http://tinkersons.com/

http://www.zippythepinhead.com

http://www.tnaqua.org/

http://www.ncaquariums.com/

http://scaquarium.org/

This Weekend at the Cinema: From New York to Athens (Ga)

Greeting to our blog readers in Colombia, New Zealand and planet Saturn!

"Battle for the Planet of the Apes" (1973) promised to be the 'final chapter' of "The Planet of the Apes," but 41 years later there is "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," which is screening at the Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, along with "How to Train Your Dragon 2."

Elsewhere in the Tar Heel State, the Eden Drive-In in Eden, NC, a small town between Martinsville, Va., and Greensboro, NC, is showing two summer blockbusters "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "Guardians of the Galaxy."

At the Hull's Drive-In in Lexington, Va., "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is also showing, but it is sharing its bill with "Into the Storm."

For a completely different crowd, The Film Forum in New York is showing a newly restored edition of "The Conformist," Bernardo Bertolucci's '70s Italian crime masterpiece; the same cinema is also screening the classic French film "That Man from Rio."

At the Cine in Athens, Ga., the cinema is screening "Boyhood," "A Most Wanted Man" and "Ida."

Finally, the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., is screening the wonderful documentary "Life Itself," pictured center about the life and death of film critic Roger Ebert (pictured center); the film is directed by renown Chicago filmmaker Steve James ("Hoop Dreams").


http://www.varsitytheatre.org

http://www.edendrivein.com

http://www.hullsdrivein.com

http://www.filmforum.org

http://www.athenscine.com

http://www.thelyric.com

Off the Beat and Path Quotes (5 of 6): Margaret Cho

Margaret Cho is one of the very few comedians who has performed at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC, a mostly music venue that brings acts, such as Cold War Kids and Of Montreal.

Cho, 45, who is known to shock people with her candid subjects on stage, is also an actress; she is a Canadian who is of Korean heritage.

This is one of her quotes:

"I love drugs, but I hate hangovers, and the hatred of the hangover wins by a landslide every time."

On Stage: The Zombies Are Set to Invade Chapel Hill

Amazingly enough, we thought The Zombies were some new heavy metal, like Dillinger Escape Plan, but as it turns out there are the revolutionary psychedelic '60s band known for smash hits like "Time of the Season," "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No."

The Zombies perform in Chapel Hill, NC, at Cat's Cradle (well, actually the venue is in neighboring Carrboro) on April 18th at 8:00 p.m.; tickets for the event are $32-35.

http://www.thezombies.net/

http://zom.thefondfarewells.com/ 

http://www.dillingerescapeplan.org/

http://www.visitchapelhill.org/

http://www.downtownchapelhill.com/

http://www.catscradle.com/

Sports Desk: UNC Edges NC State in Home Gymnastics Meet

Greetings to our blog readers in Canada, Sweden and Mongolia........we do actually hits from there every now and then!

When I first saw the results of the meet in Chapel Hill, NC, yesterday between the home University of North Carolina Tar Heels and the visiting North Carolina State Wolfpack, I mistakenly thought that NC State had won.

Though we try to be completely objective when it comes to college gymnastics, to prevent an influx of hate emails from Athens, Ga., or Tuscaloosa, Ala., but so that no one would be wrong about the outcome we posted an image of the UNC mascot Rameses ** over the NC State mascot Mr. Wuf.

The final score of the meet was UNC 194.975 NC State 193.950.

Amazingly and ironically enough, the Wolfpack actually swept the all-around with Brittni Watkins leading the way with an AA score of 39.325.

Watkins also won the bars  (individual scores) event with teammates Stephanie Oullette scoring a 9.8 and Diahanna Ham scoring a 9.725 on the event. Lexi Cappali scored the highest on the bars for UNC with a 9.875, one of the two events that UNC won along with the floor exercise.

The 'Pack won the balance beam as Hannah Fallanca, who went to Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, a city that is some 80 miles west of Raleigh, winning the event with a 9.925. Haley Watts, who had the top AA score for the 'Heels, came in second on the beam with a 9.900.

On vault, the 'Pack featured strong performances from Watkins (9.875), Oullette (9.825) and Fallanca (9.775). Though NC State won the event, UNC closed the gap on the vault with stand-out scores from Cappali (9.775) and Watts (9.75).

The two teams will see each other again on Friday, as NC State hosts a home meet in Raleigh.

In addition to UNC, traditional Big 10 powerhouse Michigan and Towson University (Maryland) will be heading south to face the 'Pack.

It will be interesting to see if Mr. Wuf * shows up on Friday.

*_Yes, there is actually a Mrs. Wuf as well.

**_ We have Rameses spelled incorrectly in our link.....we forgot the 's' at the end

Top Ten Comic Strips from the Sunday Roanoke Times: Can Anyone Top Stephan Pastis?

Greetings to our blog readers in Cyprus, Peru and New Zealand.

Welcome to another edition of "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," which dates back to Sept. 21, 2005! But, our friend and fellow blogger Chris Knight has been around longer than us as he just celebrated the tenth anniversary of his blog "The Knight Shift."

Special greetings to those of you checking us out from The o2 Lounge in Breckenridge, Colo., and Crooks Corner Restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC, which are a mere 26 hours and 45 minutes away from each other! Hope all is well in Colorado and North Carolina.

Today, we look at our favorite comic strips from "The Roanoke Times" in Roanoke, Va. The competition is a little less steep than "The Washington Post," which features "Sherman's Lagoon," "Rhymes with Orange" and "Brewster Rockit: SpaceGuy," but "The Roanoke Times" does have "Hi and Lois," which "The Washington Post" does not.

Our sweepstakes winner for today is once again "Pearls Before Swine," which proves that we are over his character Ataturk the Spitting Llama (Tilly Gokbudak, the editor of this blog, who is me, is a Turkish-American. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is the patron saint of modern Turkey, well in the secular sense).

Today, Stephan introduced a complicated concept for a 'Brain Alert' system for older people who can't remember that Jimmy Carter was president before Ronald Reagan. The last panel ends more perfectly than a season finale of "Homeland." We'll leave it there, so we don't have to issue a 'spoiler alert' (I'm still shocked at the season finale of "Homeland.")

The runner-up strip was the increasingly surprising "Garfield," which seems to have gotten exceptionally more funny since it has been parodied by "Garfield Minus Garfield." Garfield has actually around since 1978, which means at 36, he is older than the world's oldest cat, who reportedly lives in York, South Carolina, a border town with just under 10,000 people (ok, we are making that up).

"Get Fuzzy" was a bit shockingly literate today as it seemed to evoke George Orwell's "Animal Farm" or perhaps we are reading too much into it!

Here is today's top ten:

1) Pearls Before Swine

2) Garfield

3) Get Fuzzy

4) Doonesbury

5) Zits

6) Speed Bump

7) "Non Sequitur"

8) Agnes

9) Dilbert

10) Funky Winkerbean

http://www.theo2lounge.com


http://www.crookscorner.com

http://www.stephanpastis.wordpress.com

http://www.garfield.com

http://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy

Top Ten Even More Things To Do List

1. Catch up on "Bates Motel"

2. Send out Thank You cards

3. Follow the weekend GalataSaray-Fenerbahce Turkish soccer game on Twitter

4. Return library books

5. Buy new pair of slippers

6. Make some Seattle's Best Coffee

7. See what the weather in Ankara, Turkey, is like

8. See what the weather in Portland, Maine, is like

9. Avoid Chapel Hill, NC, at all costs (UNC is having commencement this weekend)

10. Pick up the Xanax (not actually a medication we're taking!)

Friday Night Tweets: Terror Suspect and Major Rainstorms

We have tweets. We have tweets. Did we say: "We have tweets."

Let's explain the images real quickly: 1) the famed Paul Revere statue in Boston; 2) a Boston Red Sox umbrella; 3) a bear sloth cub which might well look like the one at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, that we will be mentioning.

Here we go; of course, the emphasis here is on today's developments in the now successful effort to apprehend Boston Marathon bomber suspect Dzohkar Tsarnaev:

1. The Fix @TheFix ("Washington Post" reporter Chris Cilliza): "People trying to make jokes on this standoff. Just quit it."

2. Anderson Cooper 360 @AC360: "@BrianToddCNN says there are floodlights on the boat, police are yelling at suspect in #watertown."

3. WBEZ @WBEZ (NPR station in Chicago): "Update: Shots fired in Mass. as police seek second bomb suspect."

4. National Review @NRO ("National Review" is a conservative American journal; we usually disagree with them): "BREAKING: Dead suspect spent 6 months abroad last year, flew from JFK to Russia. Unclear what he did during trip."

5. Muslim Matters @MuslimMatters: "American-Muslim communities pls touch base with your local police depts and request extra patrols and a physical security assessment."

6. HuffPost Celebrity @HuffPostCeleb: "Boston attack survivor Jeff Bauman gets a star-studded visit at the hospital."

7. Chapel Hill Magazine @ChapelHillMag: "Good luck to everyone running the @Tarheel10Miler tomorrow morning!"

8. geneweingarten @geneweingarten: "Are there any Jews involved in this things? If so, I am so embarrassed."

9. Katrina vanden Heuvel @KatrinaNation: "Dzhokar Tsranev in custody, alive."

10. National Zoo @NationalZoo: "At 4 mos old, our sloth bear cub is quick and enthusiastic when it  comes to training."

11. @The Kansan: "Suspect in custody! Great police work!!"

12. Mayor Tom Menino @mayortommenino (the mayor of Boston): "We got him."

13. Tom Tomorrow @tomtomorrow: "Everyone in Boston: take a deep breath. Have a drink. Have two."

14. Jesus Christ @jesus: "Over and out." (We wonder if he's hanging out with the fringe preacher the Rev. Johnny Roberston in Martinsville, Va.)

http://www.thismodernworld.com

http://www.washington.org

http://www.vistimartinsville.com

http://www.visitchapelhill.org

Saturday Morning Tweets_ Not a Good Week for Manners

Before we post a tweet from Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt of Chapel Hill, NC, home of the University of North Carolina, which won a home game in women's volleyball over the University of Maryland last night, we should pause for a words from our sponsors: the Turkish toothpaste Ipana and the Roseanne Barr for President campaign (yes, the comedian/actress is running against Obama and Romney for a fringe third party). Ok, now that we've covered that, let's go to our tweets:

1) @Indyweek (Indy Week is an alt weekly based in Durham, NC: "Voting lessons from #Raleigh resident Pota Vallas, 104, who has been voting since FDR was elected in 1932" (Yes, that is the reason why we have an image of the Franklin D. Roosevelt dime, bottom).

2) @TheFix (The Fix is a daily column from "The Washington Post" political reporter Chris Cillizza): "Manners had the Worst Week in Washington.' Congrats or something." (This is in reference to the recent presidential debate).

3) @TeaPartyCat (Top Conservative Cat, a satirical liberal tweeter): "That awkward moment when a Salt Lake City paper in Mormon country endorses the other guy." (A reference to the Obama endorsement from "The Salt Lake Tribune," published yesterday).

4) @MayorMarkK (Mark Kleinschmidt, pictured top): "Very energizing Orange Co Democratic legislative breakfast."

5) @WAMU885News (WAMU-FM is an NPR station serving Washington, DC): "NFL fines Redskins $20,000 for violating league procedures on reporting injuries. (Hence the reason for the 'Skins helmet, center)

6)@ErinAndrews (Erin Andrews, the sexy female ESPN reporter): "Happy Birthday to my little sister @KendraAndrews1...even thou I wanted to give her back when she was a baby. Love u Ken."

7) @TerpsGymnastics (Brett Nelligan, the coach of the University of Maryland women's gymnastics team): "HOMECOMING is finally here! Can't wait to see everyone." (The Terps' homecoming game against North Carolina State is just underway as of this writing).

8) @LailaLalami (Laila Lalami is a liberal journalist who contributes to "The Nation"): "Oh, God. Rupert Murdoch is looking to buy the L.A. Times."


http://www.chapelhill.org

http://www.washingtonpost.com/fastfix

http://www.indyweek.com

http://www.lailalami.com

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.umterps.com

Quote of the Day/Week-Toni Kukoc

Today, we conclude our series of quotes from Olympic athletes who won either gold or silver medals at the Summer Olympics with a quip from Croatian basketball player Toni Kukoc, who was also an instrumental supporting player during the Chicago Bulls championship run of the 1990s.

Kukoc, now 43, won silver with the Yugoslavian national team at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but just four years later, after a bitter civil war erupted which meant that Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia would each would have separate Olympic teams in every sport, Kukoc won silver again only this time it was for Croatia. Ironically, the team that defeated Croatia was the Dream Team of the United States which was captained by Michael Jordan, who would be Kukoc's teammate with the Bulls.

Here is Kukoc's quote:

"If you are physically ready to play, it's a matter of confidence. Your confidence goes down when you lose games, when shots are not going in."

SIDEBAR: Back on Dec. 28, 2010, in what has become one of our most popular entries, I professed to eating an entire anchovy pizza at the Red Rocks pizza joint in Washington, DC. Well last night, I replicated the feat by downing a whole small anchovy pizza at Amante Gourmet Pizza in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC. Call me insane, but it was delicious!


http://www.redrocksdc.com

http://www.amantepizza.com

Casulaties of Modern Technology (9 of 12)_ The Compact Disc

Yes, we are using an image of a compact disc of REO Speedwagon as a bit of an in-joke, as it is a band that one often hears one annoying adult contemporary radio stations, such as WASH-FM (97.1, Washington DC).

The compact disc, which is refered to as the cd, is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was first developed in labs in Belgium and The Netherlands in 1979, according to Wikipedia, and the cd became commercially available in 1982.

The first cd that we personally purchased was "Storm Front" by Billy Joel in 1989; it's the one with "We Didn't Start the Fire," which seemed like such a great song at the time.

As "Rolling Stone" writer Rob Sheffield has noted in his memoirs about his youth and how the pop music of the time ('80s and '90s) affected his life, he noted that the cd was instrumental in allowing music artists to store more music in one unit. Bands, ranging from The Cure to Guns N Roses, have taken advantage of this.

There are also enhanced cds, such as "Naked" (Talking Heads, 1988), which have music videos stored on them in addition to music from the recording studio.

According to a recent "Rolling Stone" article (not written by Sheffield) and the public radio music show "Sound Opinions," sales of cds have been plummeting. But, many are still made in spite of more modern gizmos because older artists like Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Bob Dylan rely on cd sales for their older customers whereas young artists like Lady Gaga rely on going directly to I-Tunes and I-Pads, and other gadgets that were the brainchild of the late Steve Jobs.

However, vinyl sales have improved. In fac, 2011 was a banner year for vinyl record sales as 3.9 million records were sold. This was the first in sales in the product since 1979.

And, many though music stores have been disapperaring at an alarming rate, the remaning succesful ones, such as CD Alley in Chapel Hill, Hill, and Wuxutry Records in Athens, Ga. (which also has a store in Atlanta) have relied on both the cd and the record to get music to their customers.

From the Record Collection (5 of 8) Bob Dylan "Slow Train Coming"

It is nice to see we are popular in Slovenia_ of all places, so we send out special greetings to those of you in Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital. We also wish to extend greetings to folks in Nassau, The Bahamas, and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. We gather the weather is slightly nicer in the Caribbean island nation.

Today, in our "From the Record Collection" series, we feature Bob Dylan's 19th studio record "Slow Train Coming" (1979). Last year, we found a used copy of the record at All Day Records in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC.

"Slow Train Coming" was Dylan's first record since becoming a born-again Christian. Dylan was raised as a Jew in Minnesota. Spirituality is exemplified through the record with songs like "Gotta Serve Somebody," "Precious Angel" and "The Animals," which alludes to Noah's Ark.

The axe used by a rail worker on the album cover is shaped like a crucifix as is the sailboat, which is used in the photograph of the back cover.

We could not establish how long the born-again period lasted for Dylan, or if he still views the world from that prism, though spirituality does seem to come up frequently in recordings made after 1979.

The many aspects of Dylan's life made for a great art film by Todd Haynes, "I'm Not There" (2007) which includes a remarkable performance from Australian actress Cate Blanchett who plays Dylan herself!

"Slow Train Coming" was a major commercial success, and "You Gotta Serve Somebody" was Dylan's first major hit in three years.

Of his conversion to Christianity, Dylan said that an image of Jesus Christ came to him while he was staying in a hotel room in Tucson, Arizona.

The record also features Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits on guitar on many of the album's key tracks.

Bonus Road Trip (7 of 10)- Columbia, Mo., to The Indepence Bowl

Since we originally started the Road Trip series back in the spring of this year, we set out to try and cover every state, including Alaska and Hawaii (for the Aloha State, we used a short drive on the island of Maui). And, we think got all the states except for possibly Missouri.

So, we are including the Show Me State here just to be 100-percent certain. Since we are sort of based in North Carolina, this may seem like high treason as the University of North Carolina Tarheels will face the Missouri Tigers for the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La.

This is actually an early bowl as it will be played on Monday, Dec. 26, at 5:00 p.m./Chapel Hill, NC, time.

For this entry, we chose two Mexican restaurants as our points of destination. La Siesta on North 9th Street in Columbia, Missori, the city where the Tigers are based, is the Mexican restaurant for Mizzou. And, for Shreveport, we have chosen Superior Grill, which also has three other restaurants in Louisiana and one in Alabama. In Sheveport, the restaurant can be found on Lime Avenue.

If you are in Chapel Hill, NC, we saw that our friends at the Turkish restaurant Tallula's on Franklin Street about 15 hours and 30 minutes from the Superior Grill in Shreveport, La.

But, we are looking for the distance between Columbia and Shreveport; and the answer is:

A) 9 hours, 45 minutes

B) 10 hours

C) 10 hours, 15 minutes

D) 10 hours, 30 minutes

E) 10 hours, 45 minutes

SIDEBAR ONE: Lots of books with very long titles are out these days, including this one we saw mentioned in "Rolling Stone" and later at a book retailer in Washington, DC: "Free Ride: How Digital Media Parasites Are Destroying the Cultural Business, and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back" by Robert Levine, who is also a contributing editor to "Rolling Stone."

SIDEBAR TWO: We love headlines from the satirical news publication "The Onion," and this header from today's edition was as always quite funny and very dark: "(Detroit) Tigers Sign Jim Leyland Through His Death in 2012."

It should be pointed out that the legendary baseball manager Jim Leyland is alive and well; in fact, he turned 67 on Dec. 15th.

Republican Humor- Dear Casey

The following is meant to be political satire. Just so everyone in Generation Z or those of you from Belarus get the joke, Dear Casey or The Long Distance Dedication was a segment that was "Casey's Top 40," an American fm-radio music show when I was a teenager in the 1980s.


"Dear Casey:


I know that even though you are a political liberal like myself and a fellow person of Middle-Eastern heritage, you may hesitate to play this song for a truck driver I don't know in Sioux City, Iowa, as I am making this request for poltical reasons. Casey, I am afraid that the Republicans will nominate another execution-happy evangelist governor of Texas for their presidential candidate, and should Rick Perry actually become president I would have to flee America for Costa Rica or Iceland. Even though I'm sure those countries are wonderful places, I am not fluent in either Spanish or Icelandic, and I imagine this would make life very difficult for me. So, Casey, it is for these reasons that I am dedicating Conway Twitty's 1973 smash hit "You've Never Been This Far Before" to that truck driver I don't know in Sioux City, Iowa, in the hopes that_ and I never thought I'd say this_ vote for Mitt Romney in his town straw poll."

Conway Twitty (1933-1993) is alas no longer with us. I am actually a fan of his music (believe it or not) even though I'm not usually a listener of country music. Twitty was originally from Helena, Arkansas, and he is also known for his "Hello Darlin'" which was a big hit for him in 1971. Anyone living in the Chapel Hill, NC, area (not where I reside) may find vinyl records of his albums at All Day Records in nearby Carrboro, NC.

Casey Kasem is thankfully alive and well at age 79, which means that if Twitty were still alive they would be about the same age. Kasem was born in Detroit, and is active in both politically liberal and Arab-American causes (I am actually a Turkish-American). In addition to the famous radio show he hosted, Kasem was the voice of Shaggy on the original "Scooby-Doo," which first aired in 1969.

Bonus Road Trip (2 of 10)- From Conway, Ark, to Twitty, Tex.

Today, we are looking at the distances between the two cities that were the basis for the stage name of country-music legend Conway Twitty (1933-1993), who alas died during or shortly a performance in Branson, Missouri.

Twitty's real name was Harold Lloyd Jenkins, and his biggest was perhaps "Hello Darlin," which was number one for four weeks on the country charts in 1970, the year I was born. Recently, I found a vinyl copy of "Conway Twitty Greatest Hits, Volume One" at All Day Records in Carrboro (Chapel Hill Hill), NC.

Conway, Ark., is a college town that is home to Central Arkansas University and where the great Southern literary magazine "Oxford American" is based. It is also where one can find Mike's Place on Front Street, which offers (according to its web sites) lots of good steaks.

While there were plenty of places to choose from for Conway, Ark., the same could not be said for Twitty, Tex., as it has a population of 60 people! But, it does have its own zip code which is 79079.

So, we were able to figure out how far apart these two towns that made Conway Twitty's name are.

Is the answer:

A) 6 hours, 30 minutes

B) 6 hours, 50 minutes

C) 7 hours, 10 minutes

D) 7 hours, 30 minutes

Quote of the Week_ Michael Frayn

This month, we are featuring quotes from famous playwrights.

We begin with Michael Frayn. His most-famous play "Noises Off!," a radical over-the-top comedy (Frayn has also written dramatic plays like "Copenhagen"), will be presented by Playmakers Rep Theatre Company in Chapel Hill, NC, from April 4-22,
2012. I suppose if you are a perfectionist, you can go ahead and order tickets!

Here is the quote:

"A man sits in his car at the traffic lights, waiting for them to go green."

Quote of the Week- Alexandre Dumas

Our quote of the week comes from the late French novelist Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) who is best-known for his two famous novels "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Crisco."

I think this quote exemplifies the reasons why Donald Trump could never become a manager of a Taco Bell in Trenton, NJ, as it is he is a real germophone (according to a "Rolling Stone" interview published earlier this year) as it is.

Here is the quote:

"It is almost as difficult to keep a first class person in a fourth-class job, as it is to keep a fourth class in a first class job."

SIDEBAR: There was a commercial a few years ago for American Express where Donald Trump went into a dumpster to look for his wallet (yes, it is pick-on-Donald Trump day). As it turns out, there is an environmental activist in Los Angeles named Jeremy Seifert who is engaging in dumpster diving, which is a way to dig into dumpsters to get out potentially recyclable materials. Seifert wrote and directed a film about his experiences and his compatriots in the dumpster-diving venture for a documentary film called "Dive!" Apparently, much to his surprise, Seifert found a high amount of good, edible food in these dumpsters. The film will be screening next on Thurs., July 28, at Internationalist Books in Chapel Hill, NC.