Potluck Quote of Day/Night (6 of 10): Jerry Seinfeld

A Writing entity on Twitter asked us to write a five-word sentence in which an athlete confronts an unexpected challenge. We came up with: "Simone Biles converts to Judoism." Biles is as even barefoot children in Malawi now know is American gymnast who has won four gold medals and one bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

As we were putting this together, we noticed they were once again playing chainsaw heavy metal on WKNC, the student-run college radio station for North Carolina State in Raleigh. Among the tunes they were playing on the station was "Fight Em Till You Can't" by Anthrax.

We have to wonder if this song or perhaps some hip hop was in Zlatan Ibrahimovic's I-Pad as he helped Manchester United, his new team, with two goals to defeat Southampton 2-0; now that's what we call an impressive debut. We have actually lost track of European soccer lately. In fact, we even have to ask Google if Turkish-German soccer star Mesut Ozil was still playing for Arsenal, one of MU's main rivals on the grass.

Perhaps some of you came across this blog out of indecision as to what to watch on Youtube. We can recommend a clip from "Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster" (1971). If that doesn't work, then check out a Quote of the Day from someone like Dr. Seuss, whom we are not quipping here. That honor goes to standup comic and former sitcom star Jerry Seinfeld, who will be performing in at least two swing state venues, including stops in Des Moines, Iowa, (Sept. 9th) and Toledo, Ohio (Oct. 7th).

Here is Seinfeld's quote:

"Men don't care what's on TV. They only care about what else is on TV."

Oh, we forgot to mention that Bette Davis is tomorrow's TCM Star of the Day: Her film "Noe Voyager" airs at 8:00 p.m., followed by many of her other performances. 

http://jerryseinfeld.com/

http://www.writersdigest.com/

https://wknc.org/

https://www.ncsu.edu/

http://www.g-fan.com/ (Godzilla fan page)

https://www.premierleague.com/

http://www.tcm.com

Comic Strip Dialogue_ from "The Denver Post"

 

Since Leo Tolstoy is in in vogue these days, perhaps due in part to Elif Batuman and Keira Knihgtley, there are probably folks putting "I must read 'War and Peace' this year," on their list of New Year's resolutions for 2013. Hmmm....I think I'll just put read the Dr. Seuss classic "Cat in the Hat" on my list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...

 

I think we just broke the record for use of exclamation points on this blog; on that note, here is comic strip dialouge from the Sunday Dec. 16, 2012 edition of "The Denver Post"!!!!!!!!!!!!:

 

1) "Don't touch me!" (from "Zits"!

 

2) "Oh wait a minute! What am I thiking! It's fish!" (from "Pickles") !

 

3) "She's rolling.....Pop the clutch! Pop the clutch!" (from "Rhymes with Orange")!

 

4) "Holiday Sale! Guys! Holiday Sale!" (from "Baldo")!

 

5) "Mommy! I'm thirsty!" (from "Family Circus")!

 

6) "It's Christmas Time!" (from "Marmaduke")!

 

7) "Hey, No, Wait. None of this stuff was my idea!!" (from "Mother Goose and Grimm")!!

 

 

Things We Learned from the Internet Today-Devekusu is the Turkish for Ostrich

Since I lived in Turkey for two years as child from 1977-79 and my late father Mehmet Gokbudak (1921-1983) was from Turkey and made a strident effort to teach me Turkish even when I was more interested in Dr.Seuss' books as a child, I am able to speak fluent even though I grew up in rural, remote Welch, West Virginia.*

So, as it is, I am about 90-percent fluent in Turkish. Hence, as a result, there are some words I'm not aware of, and 'devekusu' (literally means 'camel bird'), the Turkish word for ostrich, is one of them. So, if alex Trebek asks: "What is the Turkish word for an ostrich?" on Final Jeopardy; the answer is "devekusu."

Also, we learned today that most things trending on Twitter had to do with the Major League All-Star Game which will be played tomorrow in Kansas City. The exception was Channel Orange, which is the name of the new release from singer Frank Ocean, who made headlines by coming out as being gay recently. We were wondering if he was related to our favorite two or three hit wonder Billy Ocean ("Caribbean Queen."). We asked both Google and Bing this question; we got no response. 

*-This is a slight white lie, I grew up in Roanoke, Va., which is not quite as removed from the world as the small hamlet in eastern West Virginia that I was referring to.

The Timeless Allure of the Grinch

The classic holiday special "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" will air at 8:00 p.m. on ABC on Christmas night. The program first aired just over 45 years ago on
Dec. 18, 1966, exactly 34 years before the "Seinfeld" episode "The Strike" which introduced the world to Festivus.

The tv version of the Dr. Seuss children's book of the same name was directed by two legendary "Looney Tunes" directors Chuck Jones and Ben Washam_ who was credited with giving Daffy Duck the catch phrase: "Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin."

The cartoon features Boris Karloff, the great horror film actor who would die three years later in 1969 at age 81, as both the narrator and the voice of the Grinch. Thurl Ravenscroft, who would later be known as the voice of Tony the Tiger in cereal commercials, provided the voice for the theme song.

Dr. Seuss actually feared the use of Karloff because he thought the actor who first brought Frankenstein to life on the silver screen might scare away children.

But, the show has endured after all these years, even though it was made into a surprisingly awful feature film version with Jim Carrey in 2000.

SIDEBAR ONE: Anyone interested in helping starving children this Christmas might want to contemplate donating to CARE's Somalia famine relief fund. As of July 20, 2011, two regions of southern Somalia were declared famine zones. CARE estimates that some 3.7 million people are starving and in need of medical assistance in the famine, which has also struck parts of Ethiopia and Kenya. For more information go to www.care.org or google the term 'Somalia famine.'

SIDEBAR TWO: On a lighter note, I was going to make the following joking posting on Facebook, but I thought it could be misunderstood, so I am posting it here on this blog, which we sometimes wonder that no one is reading, except for die-hard followers in El Salvador, of all places:

"Got a Tea Partier a Jesus Christ bobblehead doll and an Occupy Wall Street protester a Che Guevara bobblehead doll for Christmas. I sure hope I don't get the packages mixed up."

As I said earlier, this is a joke, but there are actually bobblehead dolls for both Jesus Christ and Che Guevara!

Quote of the Week- Dr. Seuss

Today, we continue with quips from famous people from New England with a quote from Dr. Seuss (1904-1991), who hailed from Springfield, Mass. The Dr. Seuss National Memorial is also located there.

Here is the quote:

"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple."

Quote of the Day- E.E. Cummings

Today, we start our series with quotes from famous Americans in honor of the Fourth of July. This month, we will focus on eight quotes from people associated with the six New England states.

Since the late poet e.e. cummings (he actually preferred having his name in lower-cased letters) was born in Cambridge, Mass., and he died at his estate in North Conway, New Hampshire, we are going to quote him.

Cummings (1894-1962) was considered to be an avant garde poet when he wrote his most famous poems, such as "Buffalo Bill's," which helped immortalize the Wild West legend from Cody, Wyoming, in the 1920s. But, today, his work is considered to be standard fare in English literature classes.

Here is his quote which makes one think of another New Englander, the late children's author Dr. Seuss:

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."

Special Quote of the Week- Ernest Hemingway

Today's quote of the day is from Ernest Hemingway (1835-1910), the great American novelist who penned such classics such as "The Sun Also Rises," "Old Man and the Sea," "A Farewell to Arms," and many other books we should read.

Hemingway's house, which is a museum in Key West, Fla, is apparently quite the tourist destination though it might be a bit of a haul from places like Wasilla, Alaska, Provo, Utah, Billings, Montana, and other places we like to make fun of (actually we hear Billings* is quite happening, and Hemingway did spend some time in Idaho though right now we don't have time to see exactly when that was and as it is, we've borrowed enough info from Wikipedia on this blog).

Here is his quote; I wonder if Dr. Seuss was ever made aware of Hemingway's sentiment:

"A man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book."

*- Billings, Mont., is home to the historic Carlin Hotel built in 1910.

Top Ten Most Controversial Books of All Times

As the delirious Rev. Terry Jones has proven over the last few days, books can stir up a lot of emotions. My late father Mehmet Gokbudak, who came from Turkey, was not too pleased when this particular "David and Goliath" book (the same one pictured here) was given to me as a Christmas present circa 1976 from one of my mom's relatives in South Carolina. The book was never burned, but it was misplaced so alas we can't hawk it on E-bay. Ironically, my father who was a Muslim had no such issues with Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham."

The web site listserve.com came up with this list of the Ten Most Controversial books ever written. I was surprised that "Mein Kempf" by Adolf Hitler didn't make the list! Nor was there a mention of Salman Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses," which is still probably VERY hard to find in Qom, Iran.

There were some surprising choices here, and most of them seem to center around religion or politics. (I should note for readers in Princeton, WVa, Fort Mill, SC, Provo, Utah or Tashkent, Uzbekistan, that these are not my views!):

1. The Holy Bible

2. The Koran

3. The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and F. Engels

4. The Prince by Nicado Machiavelli

5. I Did It by O. J. Simpson

6. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

7. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (a novel)

8. Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith

9. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (a novel)

10. Holy Blood and The Holy Grail by Dan Brown

In regards to Rev. Jones' dubious efforts to burn copies of the Koran, which have thankfully been called off (we assume?!), the Rev. Meredith Hotetsu Garman of the Unitarian Universialist Church in Gainesville, Fla, where Jones is located, denounced his crusade. She said in a statement that as Unitarians, 'we' should 'stand witness of the faith tradition we inherit, to embody our heritage of freedom, reason and acceptance.'


1.

Does Anyone Actually Read This Blog?!

Hey, it does take less time than a Dr. Seuss Book!

My cousin Erroll in Chicago confided in me recently that his dad, like mine, was weary of the book "Green Eggs and Ham" when we both children (Erroll is nine years older than me). Our fathers came from Turkey, and as it turns out they were both concerned the book would make us want to eat pork!