20-Word Fiction: Sunday Night with Clarence Thomas

We dedicate this post to 'my congressman' Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) who is playing a came of kick the can to prevent President Barack Obama to finding a Supreme Court justice to replace Antonin Scalia who died while on a hunting trip to Texas.

If November's election were on Tuesday and Goodlatte were to run against Woody Woodpecker, the red-haired bird would get my vote.

Though he is to the left of us, as we support Hillary Clinton while he supports Bernie Sanders, many years ago left-wing documentary filmmaker proposed running ficus plants against embodied, entrenched members of Congress; we fully agree with him on that point!

Here is our short, short, short story:

"The Supreme Court in my mind has voted 4-3 to stay awake; of course, Justice Clarence Thomas abstains as always."

http://www.michaelmoore.com

Tax Day Tweets: Congrats to North Carolina State Senator Phil Berger Sr. for Helping the Economy of Neighboring States

It has been a while since we last blogged on March 11th, but the dubious actions by North Carolina Republicans, such as state senator Phil Berger, Sr. from Eden (pict. bottom) to pass HB-2 otherwise known as 'the bathroom bill' in Raleigh, has even made headlines in Israel. Today, the 90s rock band Pearl Jam joined Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr and Boston in cancelling concerts across the state.

But, comedians Louis C.K., who performed in Asheville, and Joel McHale (of "Community") in Durham, both went ahead with their performances and gave profits from the shows to North Carolina gay, lesbian and transgender rights groups.

We actually used to reside in Berger's district; it's good to now be residing in a legislative district that strongly leans Democratic.

Though we also differ with the far-left politics of Michael Moore (pict. top) who should share a burrito and margarita with Berger at the Green Burro in downtown Greensboro (imagine the photo-op), we feature a tweet from Moore, who is supporting Bernie Sanders (we prefer Hillary Clinton) for the Democratic nomination for president, in our three tweets of the day.

We also want to take a moment to congratulate University of Denver gymnast Nina McGee (pict. center) for winning the NCAA floor exercise title at the women's collegiate gymnastics championships held in Fort Worth, Tex., over the weekend.

Here are the tweets:

1) Michael Moore: Clinton and Sanders now virtually tied in new national poll (NBC); Sanders has also shaved 7 points off Clinton's lead in NY (CBS).

2) The Paris Review: 'Me gift is to take relatively simple things and contemplate them to the point of madness,' John Barth."

3) Donkey Coffee (coffee shop in Athens, Ohio): Back from our employee dinner_ we are open again, come on in!

 http://downtowngreensboro.net/

http://www.ncdp.org/

http://equalitync.org/

http://donkeycoffee.com/

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.

Virtual Postcard from Florida (even though we're not there)

We are sending a Virtual Postcard from Tarpon Springs, Florida, tonight, even though we are nowhere near there, and I didn't get a press pass for the Republican National Convention in Tampa, though a backup check would have revealed I don't share their politics.

But, I am not quite as liberal as Michael Moore, who said today that he think Mitt Romney will win the race, I suppose this means Michael Medved, an arch conservative movie critic turned talk show host, needs to say Barack Obama will win to even things out.

I have actually watched a fair amount of convention coverage, and even though I have no plans to vote for Mitty Rich, and I am eager to watch tonight's Romney speech.

I will add more thoughts on the GOP convention tomorrow, including thoughts on Republican veep candidate Paul Ryan, who is now definitely a grown-up, real-life Karate Kid villain, in my humble opinion.

In case, you've missed it, tonight's speeches have been from Al Gore, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi (I was just seeing if you were paying attention), but actually such 'exciting' speakers as Romney's former business partners, Bob White and Tom Stemberg.

Clint Eastwood is expected to be tonight's surprise speaker, according to "The Huffington Post."

Tarpon Springs is a fishing village and tourist attraction near Tampa with a significantly large Greek-American population.

http://www.spongedocks.net

http://www.visitflorida.com

Quote of the Day- Jon Voight

Today, we continue our series of quoting actors who have played real-life American presidents with a quote from the liberal-turned-Tea Partier Jon Voight, 73, who ironically played the iconic Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the film "Pearl Harbor" (2001), which starred Ben Affleck.

More recently, Voight played President George Washington in the right-win political slapstick satire "An American Carol" (2008), a film that had a plot line revolving around the very progressive documentary filmmaker Michael Moore. The film failed at the box office and did not change the shifting political winds as Barack Obama defeated John McCain for the presidency. But, it was very popular with arch conservative talk show hosts, such as Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly, who actually had a cameo in the film.

Voight is also an Oscar winner for Best Actor as he won the award for his compelling performance in the touching drama "Coming Home" (1978). In recent years, Voight has renounced the film and his co-star Jane Fonda, who also won an Oscar (Best Actress) for her role in "Coming Home."

Bill Murray will also play FDR in the highly-anticipated film "Hyde Park on Hudson."

The Franklin Roosevelt Museum is in Hyde Park, NY.

Here is Voight's quote:

"There's the young Jon Voight and the old Jon Voight."

http://www.michaelmoore.com

No Turkish Bride_It Was An April Fool's Joke

No, I am NOT marrying a Turkish woman named Sibel Turkan Atasoy, and though we googled that name to make sure no one actually had it, if indeed, someone has that name it was not our intentions to use a real name.

On Twitter yesterday, I pulled another April Fool's Joke, when I said that liberal filmmaker Michael Moore had endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for president; they are actually both from Michigan! But, Moore has not endorsed him.

Also, I thought it was an April Fool's Joke when I read that the progressive talk show host Keith Olbermann, who had already been fired from MSNBC, got the boot again_ this time from Current TV.

But, amazingly enough, that is true! Olbermann was apparently fired for making fun of how a limo driver smelled.

My fellow progressive Turkish-American Cenk Uygur, who also left MSNBC, has a show that is still on Current at 7:00 p.m. We certainly hope he sticks around for a long time to come!

Happy Holidays from Barney the Dinosaur

Though I disagree with the politics of former "Washington Post" film critic and novelist Stephen Hunter, who is a conservative pro-guns proponent,I fully agree with his sentiment that he prefers dinosaur movies where the dinosaurs eat people.

Nevertheless, as harmless as Barney the Purple Dinosaur may seem, he was tagged by the Rev. Joseph Chambers, the evangelical extremist from Charlotte, NC, who is also believed to be the first person to proclaim that Bert and Ernie of "Sesame Street" were a gay couple, said that Barney was 'a tool of Satan and homosexuals' who was also attempting to teach children Marxist ideology.

The PBS dino first aired in 1992, some five years after he was created by Sheryl Leach of Dallas, Tex., and the show lasted an amazing 268 episodes. Though, Barney has been on hiatus since September 2009, ironically the same time when "Sesame Street" was celebrating its 40th anniversary.

The theme song from "Barney," which is "I Love You" was actually usehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd by the very liberal filmmaker Michael Moore in a tv segment in the 1990s in which he tried to get Serbian and Croatian leaders to resolve their differences through the song.

But, in a more sinister effort, "I Love You," as reported in a recent issue of "Mental Floss," was actually used by Guantanamo Bay guards to torture alleged terrorists.

Nevertheless, we are using Barney here to wish everyone a Happy Holidays, even if you would rather be stuck on a desert island with Michele Bachmann.

Today is My 41st Freaking Birthday

I should point out that even though my name is Tilly Gokbudak (would it be obnoxious to post myself at the end of this? Oh, it's my birthday, why not!), that I am not a woman.

Secondly, we put in the words 'rain Paris,' 'rain Istanbul,' 'rain New York, 'rain Chicago,''rain Budapest' and 'rain Moscow in the Google search engine. We even tried 'rain Roanoke' since my hometown is Roanoke, Va.

Finally, we found this image after googling 'rain London.' Yes, I'm not Chasity/Chaz Bono (Sonny and Cher's daughter who became a man; he is celebrating his 42nd birthday) in reverse, but we like this image, so by golly, we're sticking with it.

For years, I had assumed the B.J. Thomas song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" was the Billboard number one song in America the week I was born in 1970. But, as it turns out, it was the Simon and Garfunkel tune "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

Hence, the reason why we are using the image of the English woman getting soaked in the rain. We certainly hope she didn't catch a cold, but if she did as Michael Moore showed us in his documentary film "Sicko" (I am to the right, but to the left of everyone here in Mount Airy, NC)* the Brits do have a better health care system than we do, so even if she got sick assuredly she is ok now!

PS (March 5): In the Ooooopppps Department, we forgot to mention that the star (*) besides Mount Airy, NC, means we don't really live there. But, we gather, it's a very nice town!

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Celeb Couples

Hooray for celebrity couples; what would we do without them??! Today, for our Silly Photo to Fill Space feature we focus on the celebrity couple of Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal who are known more for independent films, like "Shattered Glass" and "Secretary," which are shown in Auditorium 14 at the local multiplex in Bethesda, Md.

Amazingly enough, I saw that "Secretary" was playing at an outdoor cinema in Buukada, an island off the coast of Istanbul, Turkey, a few years ago. I wonder if Maggie or her agent is aware of that? Yeah. I agree. Probably not.

SIDEBAR: This week's semi-official High School of the Week is Galena High School in Reno, Nev., where the school nickname is The Grizzlies.

Nevada is a state where a very competitive U.S. Senate race is taking place between a Tea party Mama Grizzly Sharron Angle, who like Linda Blair is assuredly possesed by Satan (hey, we may not be as liberal or as funny as Michael Moore, but we still hate right-wing quacks) and Sen. Harry Reid, who is the sentate majority leader.

Among the famous alum of Galena HS is actress Shannyn Sossaman who starred in the thriller "One Missed Call," which probably played in Auditorium 7 at the local multiplex in Bethesda, Md.

Merry Christmas from P.J. O'Rourke

All my partisan Democratic friends need not worry, I am not switching teams like "Weekly Standard" contributor P.J. O'Rourke, a former liberal who once wrote for "Rolling Stone."

But, I thought since I sent Christmas greetings from Michael Moore on my other blog "The Daily Vampire" that I should be somewhat objective although with the advent of Fox News much of that has gone out the window.

I hope you are having a delightful Christmas if you are reading this in either Provincetown, Mass., or Provo, Utah, or Tashkent, Uzbekistan for that matter. Wait, I forgot they are a Muslim country!

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Zhu Zhu Pets

This reminds me of the "Curb Your Enthuiasm" episode in the show's sixth season where Kevin Farley, who played Michael Moore in the politically conservative slapstick comedy "An American Carol" (which tanked at the box office), playing the part of an exterminator inadvertently stomps on a dog because he thinks it's a rat.

Zhu Zhu Pets retail for a mere nine dollars, but because they are hard to find (Wal-Mart and Target have both sold out of them), they now sell on amazon.com for approximately $60!

I would sooner take my daughter (if I had one) to a Britney Spears concert!

The Last 10 Films I've Seen

Since this blog only got nine hits yesterday, and my other blog "The Daily Vampire" got 3,000, (how is that possible??!) I will keep this fairly brief!

I recommend Michael Moore's documentary "Capitalism: A Love Story" to my Republican friends. Ironically, they might agree with the film's premise more than I did (I am a Democrat) because as a political realist I was actually in favor of the federal bail out!

A star denotes films that I saw for a second time. A dash indicates if a film was based on a book. It should be noted that got this idea from "Film Comment" magazine, which Gavin Smith does an excellent editing:

1. "In the Loop"
2. "Zombieland"
3. "Where the Wild Things Are"#
4. "Audition" (Japan)
5. "Death at a Funeral"
6. "Bright Star"
7. "Capitalism: A Love Story" (doc)
8. "Naked Lunch"*#
9. "There Will Be Blood"*#
10. "Cold Souls"

Quote of the Week_ George F. Will

Since we quoted Michael Moore on our other blog, we are moving to the otherside of the political spectrum (no, not me personally!......not that I'm quite as liberal as Mr. Moore) with a quip from conservative commentator and baseball fan George F. Will, who is a Chicago Cubs fan (as am I) who goes to Washington Nationals game but here he is wearing a L.A. Dodgers cap? Well, he doesn't believe in global warming either........?!

"The nicest part about being a pessimist is that you are cnstantly being proven right or pleasantly surprised."