Little Thinkers Quotes (7 of 16): Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Greetings to our blog-readers in Slovakia, Panama and Vietnam.

Tonight, we feature a special quote from Wolfgang Amadus Mozart, who has been the subject of the award-winning play and movie "Amadeus"as well as a '80s pop song by the late Falco, who also hailed from Mozart's Austria.

For those who enjoy listening to classical music on the radio, we highly recommend WETA, an NPR station in Washington, DC, dedicated virtually exclusively to classical music.

For those who want to see a symphony, as luck would have it, The Cleveland Orchestra in Cleveland, Ohio, is performing Mozart's 'greatest hits' this weekend (our words!).........

Here is the quote from Wolfgang Amadeus:

"There is no female Mozart because there is no female Jack the Ripper."

SIDEBAR: Brigham Young University's men's basketball team won a road game over San Francisco (university) last night; the final score was 83-76.

The visiting Cougars, which has a roster that includes former Wake Forest U stand-out Chase Fischer, were lead by Kyle Collingsworth (soph. guard who happens to hail from Provo, Utah, where BYU is located) who put in 19 points. His teammate and fellow Utah resident Skyler Hlaford Jr. added points for the Cougars (12-7, 4-2 in West Coast Conference). The home town Dons (yes, that is really the team's nickname!), which have a record of 12-7, 4-2 in the WCC, were lead by 26 points from Cole Dickerson. The game aired nationally on the ESPN networks.

Now Showing: Movies at American Movie Theatres (West Coast Edition)

AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first try at posting this entry was accidentally deleted, so those of you in Paris, Istanbul and Dubai should tell all your friends to check out this blog.

Here are a look at movies showing in West Coast cinemas this weekend.

Let's start in St. Louis, even though it's pretty far from the west coast, where one can see the outstanding Ethan Hawke-Julie Delpy film "Before Midnight" at the Tivoli (a Landmark theatre) at noon; 2:30; 4:45; 7:15 and 9:45 p.m.

In the Mile-High City, one can see a documentary called "Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie" about the late right-wing tv host (pictured bottom) at the Denver Film Society Colfax at 7:20 and 9:30 p.m.

The Salt Lake Film Society in Salt Lake City, Utah, is screening another documentary "We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks" which profiles the far-left founder of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (pictured top) at 2:00 and 4:30 p.m.

At Cinema 21 in Portland, Ore., one can see the latest film from director Joss Whedon ("The Cabin in the Woods") called "Much Ado About Nothing," yeah, we're not sure how much it has to do with William Shakespeare either!

In San Francisco, one can see perhaps one of the most unique documentaries playing anywhere as the Roxie Theatre screens "I Am Gay and Muslim" as part of the cinema's gay-lesbian film festival with shows at 7:00 p.m. The Dutch film from director Chris Bellami, which lasts 59 minutes, profiles gay men in Morocco.

Lastly, in L.A., one can see another documentary "20 Feet From Stardom" at the Landmark.

For listings of showings at east coast arthouses (and, this is where we effed up before) go to our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" at http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

http://www.denverfilm.org

http://www.saltlakefilmsociety.org

http://www.landmarktheatres.com

http://www.roxie.com

http://www.cinema21.com

Huey Lewis and the News Will Be on Jimmy Kimmel Live

A few weeks back we saw an ad for Wolftrap, a concert venue in Vienna, Va., just outside of Washington, DC, which listed Huey Lewis and the News' Aug. 13, 2013, concert as one of its summer highlights. Perhaps, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who hails from San Francisco where the band is from and Eric Cantor (R-Va) can set aside partisan differences and attend the show together....well, may be in a parallel comic book universe.

As it also turns out, the band which became famous thanks to the multi-hit album "Sports," featuring "Heart of Rock and Roll," "I Wanna New Drug" and "Heart and Soul" that turns 30 this year, is starting their tour much sooner than in August.

Huey Lewis and the News will also appear on the ABC late night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

Here are the dates:

May 10 New Brusnwick, NJ

May 13 New York, NY

May 15 Jimmy Kimmel Live!

May 16 St. Ynez, Calif.

May 17 Cabazon, Calif.

May 18 Chandler, Ariz.

Later Dates:

Aug. 13 Vienna, Va. Wolftrap

http://hueylewis.com

http://www.wolftrap.org

Image to Fill Space-Power Yoga

Ever since we heard the term power yoga, we thought it was a bit of an oxy moron as the term yoga usually conjures up images of people relaxing and trying to 'strike a pose.' (We don't think Madonna can sue us for that).

But, it seems to be becoming very popular at health clubs around the country, from San Francisco to Provo, Utah. Having tried this once myself, I must advice beginners to try regular yoga first.

There is a yoga retreat called Yogaville in the rural hamlet of Buckingham, Va. (some 30 miles south of Charlottesville in central Virginia), for those you really want to practice yoga away from modern distractions, without going to Sri Lanka.

www.yogajournal.com

www.yogamagazine.com

www.yogaville.org

Casualties of Modern Technology- Newspapers (2 of 12)

Since I was once a newspaper reporter, declaring my old profession to be a 'casualty of modern technology' may not go over well, but it has been a full decade since I was covering Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors meetings in Woodstock, Va.

According to Wikipedia, there were 6,580 newspapers in the world which sold 395 million copies a day. But, a steep decline has occured since then. As Gene Weingarten, a humor columnist from "The Washington Post" stated a few years ago (this is a paraphrase): 'how can you exist as a business when you give away your product for free on the Internet?'

And, many newspapers across the United States have been hit hard, including "The Herald-Sun" in Durham, NC. The daily newspaper owned by the Paxton Group in Paducah, Ky., had over 50,000 daily subcribers in 2003. As of 2010, it has just over 25,000. As a result, the newspaper fired 81 of its 350 employeees, including prize-winning cartoonist John Cole, in 2008. There have been even more layoffs at the newspaper since then.

The newspaper traditionally consists of features, such as comic strips, classified ads, advice columns, obituaries, recipes, horoscopes and editorial cartoons.

But, newspapers have not lost their value when it comes to informing the public, especially on local issues. This is particularly true today, which is Election Day here in the United States.

Both "The News and Record" in Greensboro, NC, and its alt weekly competitor "Yes Weekly!" will have major stories tomorrow regarding the outcome of a highly contested local mayoral race between the incumbent Republican mayor of Greensboro Bill Knight and his challenger Robbie Perkins, a candidate endorsed by "Yes Weekly!."

According to the PRI show "The World," a radio program that airs on many NPR stations in America, Chinese-language newspapers, including the Hong Kong-based "Sing Tao Daily," are playing a vital role in the likely election of Ed Lee, who would become the first person of Chinese heritage to become the mayor of San Francisco.

But, as to the future of newspapers, that is an open question. In fact, as I was typing this, someone was asking if this household would be interested in getting the local paper in the zip code I am presently at (it was not "The News and Record" or "The Herald Sun).

Happy Mother's Day in Advance from Joan Crawford

Much to our shock and amazement, we found out that the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, which is one of the most famous cinemas in America, is presented a special 30th anniversary screening of "Mommie Dearest." The 1981 film starring Faye Dunaway about allegations that legendary actress Joan Crawford (1905-1977) will be shown at 7:00 p.m. A local transvestite named Peaches Christ, who is apparently popular in the communtiy, will present the film. Ticket prices are (and, we are not making this up) from $20-40.....wow, an opera in Roanoke, Va., might actually be cheaper.

Crawford won an Oscar for "Mildred Pierce" (1945) and her last screen appearance was in the horror film "Trog" (1970). Her daughter Christina Crawford wrote the 1978 memoir "Mommie Dearest" which became the basis for the film version which was badly recieved, yet it did become a camp film with a large cult following; John Waters even provides commentary on the dvd of the film though he had nothing to do with its production.

Dunaway has publicly stated that she disdains the film, and we assume she will not be in San Francisco for the screening on Saturday night (that might actually be worth the price of admission!).

Ironically, both Christina Crawford, now 71, and Dunaway, now 70, are close to the age that Joan Crawford was when she died which was 72.

SIDEBAR: We forgot to mention my fellow Turkish-American Mehmet Oz (Dr. Oz) in our last entry. Your mom might like his book "You: Being Beatiful" over his other book "You:On a Diet," which might be an even bigger mistake than buying a Syrian friend a weiner from Trolley Stop Hot Dogs in Boone, NC (a real place).

And, of course, since we have a strong center-left bias, we have to poke fun of our far-right friends. The right-wing blog "I Hate the Media" which is criticizing us liberals for making Barack Obama out to be The Mighty Thor for his killing of Osama bin Laden reported earlier in the week that the San Diego Padres were giving free admission to veterans, past and present; the team also wore camoflage. Since my stepfather the late Donald Sullivan was a WW-2 vet, we think that is very noble of the Padres. Though, the camoflage seems a wee bit over-the-top.

So, we wanted to inform the folks at "I Hate the Media" that the Padres were also the first team to play in Mexico when they faced the New York Mets for three games between Aug. 16-18, 1996. I'm they 'appreciate' us digging up that fact for them.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Che Guevara Plush Toy

A few weeks ago, I put the Che Guevara plush toy, which would probably more popular in San Francisco than Provo, Utah, on a mock Christmas gift list. I actually saw the item at a novelty shop in Greensboro, NC, along with similar plush toys for artist Frida Kahlo and scientist Albert Einstein.

Most of the plush toys retail for $16.95, and other figures that The Little Thinkers produce include Jesus Christ, Charlie Chaplin, William Shakespeare and Sigmund Freud.

I did not get the Che Guevara plush toy this year, but next Christmas is just around the corner, right?! Perhaps, there will be a socialist revolution by then (well, it couldn't be any worse than the Tea Party movement!)

50 Beers from Around the World_ Gallo (Guatemala)

Today, we focus our attention to the Central American nation of Guatemala, which is home to Gallo Beer (or Rooster Beer) as it would be in English.

The beer is brewed in Guatemala City, and beer in Guatemala dates back to 1896.

Gallo Beer is also served in aluminum cans, and it's also available as a light beer. The brew can be found in Mexico, France and here in The US of A. Though it seems a bit hard to find in les etats unis, but an Internet poster said he found the beer somewhere in San Francisco.

I had the chance to visit Guatemala in 2005, and I really liked the city of Antigua. Since we spent only a limited there on the tour, I was unable to get into Frida's (named after famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo), a popular restaurant in Antigua located near the famous Arch of Santa Catalina.

Antigua is also home to a movie theatre called Cine Sin Ventura. If it's the same place (though I recall it as being called Cinema Maya; they were showing "Kinsey") that I stopped by and visited back then, I do have to wonder what they are showing right now. Yeah, I imagine it's either "Mega Mind" or "Due Date" too!

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Movie Critic Talks Politics

One may assume that legendary Chicago film critic Roger Ebert might be tweeting about how much he hates "Jackass 3-D," but instead he was talking politics tonight.

Ebert has made headlines for his groundbreaking surgery which allows a new artificial voice-box to speak for him since he lost his real voice to cancer as well as criticism of California high school students who were wearing American flag t-shirts on Cinco De Mayo. Of course, those t-shirts were probably made in Honduras (hmm...., we probably lost some members of the Tulsa Tea Party for that remark!).

Here was the tweet from Ebert which was in reference to (he provided a link) a column from Frank Rich of "The New York Times" about how President Barack Obama is perceived by many Americans to be subservient to elitists even though he provided a tax break for 95 percent of all Americans. This was the exact tweet from Ebert:

"Obama won't go after Wall Street thieves: GOP should be applauding. Ordinary people get screwed."

Perhaps, tomorrow Ebert will tell us who will win the World Series between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants. I suppose I am a bit of a fervent center-left political person because I'll be rooting for the Giants merely because the Rangers were once owned by George W. Bush!

Ragsdale HS Wins Big

I didn't go to Ragsdale High School in Jamestown, NC- which is a suburb for both Greensboro and High Point, myself. But, we seem to have a loyal following from Ragsdale HS fans. (Alas, there is no firm research to prove this!).

But, we can confirm that Ragsdale beat the living daylights out of Parkland High School by a 47-8 score. We don't know if the opposing team's mascot was pounced on afterward, but irregardless after this game, he will probably file for unemployment.

In other North Carolina high school football action, Rockingham County HS from Wentworth (near Reidsville) beat their arch rivals McMichael High School 41-20, which means the Confederate flags in Mayodan, NC (where McMichael is located) will probably fly at half-staff.

In a more progressive part of the state, where I can very well park beside another car with a Barack Obama bumper sticker, Carrboro High School beat their fellow Orange County rivals Chapel Hill High School 22-20.

And, Eastern Alamance beat Eastern Guilford 30-21, which gave people in those areas something to do besides watch "Dexter's Labratory" reruns on Boomerang on a Friday night.

Half a world away, there were three soccer games in Turkey earlier in the day. A seagull actually landed at Inonu Stadium in Istanbul, but that didn't prevent the home side Besiktash from defeating AntalyaSpor 2-1. GaziantepSpor was also a 1-0 winner over EskisehirSpor for those of you who follow us regularly from those zip codes (hmm....I guess it's possible someone could be reading this blog in Gaziantep or Eskisehir!).

SIDEBAR: We used to publish letters to the editor that we loved, but we feared we would cease and desist order from the likes of "Time" or "Newsweek," so we quit doing it. But, I didn't want to mention excerpts from a letter that San Francisco resident Marta Lindsey sent to "The Atlantic." In the letter, she said that when she put the word 'average' into Google, she got automated suggestions which included penile length, IQ, salary, and weight?!

Things We Learned On Twitter This PM- Softball Team Apparently Isn't 'Gay Enough'

According to the "Seattle Weekly" Twitter page, a gay softball team from San Francisco that competed in the 2008 Gay Softball World Series in Seattle is being disqualified from their second place finish because the team had some straight players.

As a result, three heterosexual players on the men's softball team are suing for $75,000 in damages.

The Seattle alt weekly reported that play was actually stopped during the game and the alleged straight players were interogated about their sexual orientation. The group sponsoring the tournament made the ruling just this week about the matter.

You would think this sort of thing--well in reverse-- would only happen in the Turkish army (forgive the ethnic joke, but since I am a Turkish-American, I can make fun of Turkey which along with The United States is the only western country which bans gays in the military).

The 2010 Gay Softball World Series will take place later this year in Columbus, Ohio. I suppose since I am heterosexual, I won't be able to participate but then again I was never particularly good at softball anyway. And, I seriously doubt that Mount Airy, NC, will send a delegation there even though I bet some of these good ole boys around here are both in the closet and can hit that ball well over the fence!

SIDEBAR:

Speaking of sports, it was a very bad day for my alma maters yesterday. Channel 7 in Roanoke, Va., reported that the Virginia Tech Hokies beat our beloved Radford University Highlanders 15-5 in a men's baseball game that was played at RU.

Similarly, the Glenvar High School boys' soccer team from Salem, Va.,(we actually played with girls when I was on the team in 1988, and they got more playing time than I did though I think that was in part because the coach who acted like Idi Amin didn't care for me) lost to George Wythe High School from Wytheville, Va., by a 5-1 margin. It's too bad the Cold War is over, or else I'd ask Vladamir Putin to drop an A-bomb on Wytheville for revenge........well, hmmmmm.......I suppose that would affect the whole area where I grew up, which is only 70 miles away! (Of course, if it's not obvious, we are just kidding. Love Wytheville. Great truck-stop town!).

Special Screening_ Harold and Maude

"Harold and Maude" is showing at the Red Vic Movie House in San Francisco on July 24.

I would go out there to see it, but I did just recently rewatch the film on dvd.

Old Cinemas_The Victoria Theatre in San Francisco

San Francisco may be one of the very few zip codes in America where I might actually be a Republican (that is certainly not the case in rural North Carolina where I reside!).

Of course, a place like San Francisco has many unique cultural attractions, and from what I've read The Victoria Theatre seems to fit that proverbial bill.

The theatre began as a vaudeville house when it was built in 1908. The Victoria began to show films in the 1930s, and it later became a burlesque house in the 1960s (pictured here).

The Victoria was closed in 1976, and it reopened a few years later.

Currently, the cinema is showing the independent film "Rolling," which is about an underground warehouse party in Los Angeles where a teacher, a drug dealer, a lawyer and a high school senior look for their next thrill.

The Victoria, located in the Mission District, seats 480 people. It was also featured in the 1973 Walter Matthau film "The Laughing Policeman."

It is located at:

2961 16th Street
San Francisco, Calif.
(415) 863-7576.