Our Top Ten Comic Strips from "The Roanoke Times:" Blondie Actually Makes the Top Ten; Speed Bump Wins the Survey

Greetings to our blog readers in Canada, Spain and Switzerland.

And, a shout-out to our celebrity visitors George Lucas, Jane Fonda and Nancy Kerrigan (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).

Here is our top ten:

1) Speed Bump: In Dave Coverly's one panel strip one of the Easter Island heads acts up, and his mother straightens him out

2) Get Fuzzy: In this strip, the age-old battle of which pet is more popular: the cat or the dog takes center stage.

3) Pearls Before Swine: Stephan Pastis goes autobiographical again, this time asking his own creations, the rat and the goat, how he looks with a beard and a beret. (Hmmm....yeah, I suppose some of you are imagining Che Guevara right now)

4) Doonesbury

5) Dilbert

6) Blondie: Dagwood goes ski jumping?!! This should make the strip more popular in Finland.

7) Funky Winkerbean

8) Zits

9) Mutts

10) Agnes

SIDEBAR: Last night in Boston, Yale actually upset Harvard in men's basketball by a score of 74-67, but perhaps no noticed as everyone in the world is watching Bob Costas and NBC's coverage of the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

And, this is our 2,225th blog entry!

http://www.gocomics.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

Image to Fill Space: A Dalmation

Greetings to our blog readers in Senegal, South Africa, Honduras, Jamaica, Chile, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Australia, Japan, France, Iceland, Bulgaria and Slovenia.

Tomorrow, we shall have something more substantive.

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/

Parade of Nations (Two of Four)- Albania to Italy

We continue our Parade of Nations of flag-bearers for their respective countries, with the likes of an Albanian women's weight-lifter to a Cuban wrestler:

Albania: Romela Begaj (women's weightlifting)

Azerbaijan: Elnur Mammadi (men's judo)

Chile: Denisse van Lamoea (women's archery)

Cuba: Mijain Lopez (pictured below, wrestling)

Cyprus: Marcos Baghdatis (pictured above, tennis)

Hungary: Peter Biros (water polo)

Iran: Ali Mazaheri (boxing)

Italy: Valentina Vezzali (pictured center, fencing)

http://www.olympic.org

http://www.valentinavezzali.com

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

Silly Picture to Fill Space- Breakfast

We had hoped to post a breakfast-related entry on Sunday since it was Easter here in the United States, and on Easter Sunday, there is a tradition of having a large breakfast or brunch for the occasion.

If one happens to stop into the the southwest Virginia town of Floyd, we highly recommend Oddfellas Cantina, where they have great brunches year-round.

Thanks to those of you in Slovakia and Chile for checking out our blog today; we really appreciate it.

Quote of the Day/Week- Chilean Filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky

Hmmmm.....yeah, we kind of messed up on this a few days ago when we were posting an entry with a quote on Fidel Castro that ended up on our other blog "The Daily Vampire." For that incident and many others, we made an editorial decision to fire Javier the Intern. But, we quickly realized no one could replace him, so we hired Javier the Intern* back.

Today, we are quoting the Chilean experimental filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (b. 1929) who is best known for midnight movie masterpiece "El Topo" (1970), which many musicians, including the late John Lennon and Peter Gabriel took a serious liking to.

Here is his quote, which we will credit to Javier:

"One day, someone showed me a glass of water that was half full. And, he said, 'is it half full or half empty?,' so I drank the water. No more problems."

*-There is no real Javier the Intern; it is a running gag on my two blogs.

Beers from Around the World (#50 of 50) Sleeman from Canada

Yes, we never thought it would come to an end either, but today, we are featuring our final entry in our Beers Around the World series with a look at Canada's third most popular beer, Sleeman which as it turns out is surprisingly difficult to find here in America.

In total, we have focused on 50 beers from 44 different countries, and only the Chilean beer (we think it was Cristal) gave us some problems.

Sleeman Beer, which some people call Sleeman's, ranks third behind Molson and Labatts, which are both widely available in America, in domstic Canadian sales.

The beer was founded in Guelph, Ontario, in 1834. It actually ceased operations because it was a popular beer that was illegally brought into Detroit during the Prohibition era in the late 1930s. Ironically, Michigan is apparently now one of the few places where Sleeman Beer can be found.

Sleeman Beer was restarted in 1988, and it became so popular in Canada that the Japanese brewery giant Sapporo purcahsed the company for $400 million in 2006.

Sleeman comes in a cream ale as well as in original drafts and original darks.

Since the company has decided, for some reason, not to fool with the American market, one place where one could probably find it would the Shark Bar and Grill in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, which might be worth a road trip to get out of Provo, Utah.

50 Beers From Around the Globe- Cerveza Cristal (Chile)

This latest brew caused some confusion for me because not only is there a Cerveza Cristal in Chile, but there is also a beer with the same name in Peru and there might even be one in Cuba!

But, the one pictured here is (we believe) the Chilean brew. According to Wikipedia, Chile brews corn beer, known as chicha, in addition to beer from the traditional barley like Cerveza Cristal.

Beer started in Chile circa 1850 when German immigrants began to establish the first breweries in the country.

I could not find any info regarding this beer's availability here in the United States. But, amazingly enough, a blogger with a retired blog (no new entries since 2009) named "Your Liver Hates You" said that he found the Peruvian Cerveza Cristal at a gas station in Texas!

SIDEBAR:

My friend Joe Scott and WUAG-FM, the student station of UNCG, will be presenting a screening of the Coens Brothers classic "The Big Lebowski" at The Carousel Luxury Cinemas on Thursday. The Greensboro, NC, theatre will screen the film at 7:30 and 10:00 p.m. There is a package with the film that includes bowling at Triad Bowling after the showings of the film.

Today's GeoQuiz- Chile

The capital of Chile which features this mural (pictured here) is the subject of today's GeoQuiz, which we dedicate to students at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colo.,-admittedly one of our favorite college towns.

This city has had a bit of a dark history in recent years as Chile was ruled by dictator Augusto Pinochet from 1974-1990 after he toppled Marxist leader Salvador Allende with the assistance of the CIA. These events were profiled in the epic French documentary "The Battle of Chile" (1975-79) from Chilean emigre Patricio Guzman.

My late uncle Ilhan Gokbudak, who died in 2000, was actually a Turkish diplomat in Chile during the 1970s and 1980s, and he told me many stories about his life there. And, I actually inherited an autograph from Pinochet from him, which felt a bit strange since...well, he was a dictator!

But, today, this city and Chile is back on its proverbial feet as many tourists come to this capital which has also been sister cities with the likes of other capitals ranging from Ankara, Turkey, to Manila, Philippines. This mystery city is also currently a sister city with Miami.

Is this capital city:

A) Asuncion

B) Montevideo

C) Lima

D) Santiago

SIDEBAR: We want to wish a happy birthday to fellow Radford University (Va.) alum Jayma Mays of tv's "Glee" (a show that my friend Moviezzz really, really likes) who turned 31 on Friday. She is originally from the coal-mining town of Grundy, Va., which is not to far away from Wise, Va., where the late actor George C. Scott ("Patton") was born. Many people are surprise to find out that far southwestern Virginia town of Grundy is close to three hours away from Roanoke, Va., my hometown which is the largest city in the region.

SIDEBAR TWO: Spaghetti western movie fans will be happy to learn that TCM is airing the Sergio Leone film "For a Few Dollars More" with Clint Eastwood tomorrow at 5:30 p.m., EDT. It is the sequel to "A Fistful of Dollars." My favorite spaghetti western is another Leone film "Once Upon a Time in the West."

PS-The answer to last week's GeoQuiz was "B," Valencia.

Quote of the Week- Robert Frost

This month we will be posting quotes from great poets, living or dead, in honor of National Poetry Month. Alas, Frost who penned one of my favorite poems "Fire and Ice" is not among the living.

This quote from Frost reminds me of my late uncle Ilhan Gokbudak, who was a Turkish diplomat to mostly South American countries including Chile and Brazil. My mom that Uncle Ilhan, who remained a bachelor until he died at the age of 76 in the year 2000, was just like James Bond!:

"A diplomat is man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age."

Quote of the Week- Sissy Spacek

Today, we are featuring quotes from two Academy Award winners who happened to co-star with Jack Lemmon (1925-2001, who is quoted on our other blog "The Daily Vampire") in the highly political 1982 thriller "Missing" about an American journalist who vanished in Chile during a right-wing coup which lead to the rise of dictator Augusto Pinochet (1915-2006).

Spacek currently lives on a farm outside Charlottesville, Va. She has been active in state politics as she has lobbied the General Assembly to consider the links between uranium mining and cancer as a highly controversial uranium mining project is being considered at the Coles Hill Farm in Pittsylvania County, north of Danville, Va. The subject was profiled in an excellent article by Andrew Rice in the current issue of "The New Republic."

Spacek is originally from Quitman, Tex., where she was homecoming queen at Quitman High School. After gaining prominence for her excellent performance in "Badlands"
(1973), Spacek became one of the very few actresses ever nominated for Best Actress for a performance in a horror film "Carrie" (1976).

But, the film she would Oscar for would turn out to be "Coal Miner's Daughter"
(1980). Spacek won over an impressive list of nominees including Gena Rowlands who gave a brilliant performance of her own in "Gloria" that year.

Interestingly enough, both Spacek and Rowlands have been featured guests at the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville over the years. The festival, which be held from Nov. 4-7, 2010, announced today that it would drop its long-standing programming policy of presenting films based on a similar theme.


Spacek has recieved a total of six nominations, including one for her outstanding role in the contemporary thriller "In the Bedroom" (2001).

Here is her quote:

"You don't forget the movies, but you forget the details of them."