Top Ten Comic Strips from the Sunday Washington Post (May 25th edition)

Greetings to our blog readers in South Africa, Iceland and Portugal; domestically, we want to give a shout-out to our blog readers in Raleigh, NC, Atlanta and Seattle...........if we can ever get to the Northwest and see the Space Needle.........

Since Discovery Channel's Shark Week is nearing, it is only appropriate that "Sherman's Lagoon," a comic strip about a shark finishes in our top ten.

The above images are all in conjunction with three strips from the May 25th Sunday edition of "The Washington Post" (the Aug. 3rd comics pages disappeared like Harry Houdini). The living opossums eludes to "Brewster Rockit: Space Guy! which feauted possum obits! The laundry of clothes is a nod to "Rhymes with Orange," which featured a circus cyclist who had to strut around in the buff since he couldn't get his clothes washed, and, of course, the "Jaws the Revenge" (or Jaws 4) poster is a reference to "Sherman's Lagoon."

1. Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!

2. WUMO 

3. Lio

4. Rhymes with Orange

5. Judge Parker

6. Speed Bump

7. Doonesbury

8. Frazz

9. Sherman's Lagoon

10. Foxtrot

We're Back: The Last Ten Albums We've Listened To

Yes, we have been away for a while, but it's good to be back from our Buddhist pilgrimage to Bhutan (yes, that's a joke). But, we have listened to lots of records lately; here are the last ten:

1. Richard Pryor. "That ***ger's Crazy" 1974

2. Herbie Hancock. "Mr. Hands" 1980

3. Tim Buckley. "Blue Afternoon" 1969

4. Jefferson Starship "Red Octopus" 1975 (top image)

5. Jan Hammer Group "Oh Yeah?" 1976

6. The Tubes "Young and Rich" 1976 (center image)

7. Genesis "Abacab" 1981

8. Devo "Freedom of Choice" 1980 (bottom image)

9. Elvis Costello "This Year's Model" 1978

10. Phil Collins "Face Value" 1980


http://www.jerrysrecords.com (record store in Pittsburgh)

http://www.schoolkidsrecords.com (record store in Raleigh)

http://www.indycdandvinyl.com (record store in Indianapolis)

http://www.nuggetrecords.com  (record store in Boston)

http://www.waterloorecords.com (record store in Austin, Tex.)

http://www.easystreetrecords.com (record store in Seattle)

When It's 8:00 p.m. in New York, It's (now) 8:00 p.m. in Athens (until March 30th)

Yes, for all we know, the sushi pictured on the bottom might well be from a shopping mall food court in Fort Worth, Texas, as opposed to an authentic Japanese sushi eatery in Tokyo, but we need to get this entry up so we can watch the exciting clash of the NBA titans tonight as the Washington Wizards battle the Charlotte Bobcats (forgive the American sports humor!).

On Sunday morning, there was a one hour 'spring forward' across North America, and most of us Americans and our Canadian friends are still recovering from it.

Here are the times around the world which will be in effect when it becomes 8:00 p.m. here in the Eastern time zone, which includes the American cities of New York, Boston, Detroit, Washington D.C, Atlanta and Orlando and the Canadian cities of Toronto and Montreal:

1) Athens 2:00 a.m. (same time as Istanbul)

2) Berlin 1:00 a.m. (pictured middle)

3) Houston/St.Louis 7:00 p.m.

4) Rio de Janeiro 9:00 p.m.

5) Tokyo 9:00 a.m.

6) Dubai (pictured top) 4:00 a.m.

7) Honolulu 2:00 p.m.

8) Tel Aviv 2:00 a.m.

9) Beijing 8:00 a.m.

10) Warsaw 1:00 a.m.

11) Seattle 5:00 p.m.

12) Tunis 1:00 a.m.

http://www.dubaitourism.ae/

http://www.visitberlin.de/en

https://www.gotokyo.org/en/

http://www.visitseattle.org/Home.aspx

The Return of Friday Night Tweets: Bad Night to Deliver Pizzas in Raleigh, NC

The three images above are of: 1) Soap actress Nadia Bjorlin of "Days of Our Lives" fame (she is apparently not on the show right now, but she has come back twice); 2) Police officers in Troy, Montana, and 3) Local televangelists from Reidsville, NC, we are actually using their image to go with a tweet about Kansas. We do have to thank friend and fellow blogger Chris Knight as he used the image of the Men in Grey on his blog initially. We believe this two tv preachers are associated with the very radical Rev. Johnny Robertson from Martinsville, Va.

Let's go:

1) Nadia Bjorlin @RealNadiaB: "Happy Friday! First day off summer and I'm off to Vegas!"

2) Raleigh News @RaleighNews: "Two pizza delivery drivers robbed minutes apart in Raleigh."

3) The Denver Post @Denverpost: "Ironman triathlon coming to Boulder in August 2014."

4) Wall Street Journal @WSJ: "Montana is the first state to require police get a warrant before tracking a suspect through a cell phone."

5) The Seattle Times @seattletimes: "Got big plans this weekend? Beware of traffic impact
from Saturday's Rock 'N' Roll Marathon"

6) Rolling Stone @rollingstone: "Gun nuts, anti-abortion zealots and free-market cultists are leading Kansas toward disaster."

7) ABC 11 WTVD in Raleigh, NC @ABC11-WTVD: "Report: 2 cannons raised from Blackbeard's ship."

http://www.nadia-bjorlin.com

http://www.visitmt.com

http://www.visittopeka.us

http://www.theknightshift.blogspot.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Werner Herzog

Today, we quip one of our favorite German film directors Werner Herzog as we conclude a month-long series-within-a-series dedicated to quotes from famous Germans.

While researching this, we found out that Herzog is the first film director to make a film on every continent, including Antartica!

The 69-year-old director has just completed work on a documentary called "Death Row" about death row inmates in America. The subject should be a unique one from Herzog's vantage point as many Europeans find the fact that America executes inmates extremely unsettling, while more than 50 percent of Americans seem to support capital punishment in spite of conclusive proof of wrongful executions.

(Full disclosure: I am highly opposed to capital punishment, and I am a long-time supporter of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty).

We get today's quote from the Les Blank documentary "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe," which was made in 1980 and originated from a bet that Herzog made with a then-unknown documentary filmmaker named Errol Morris, who has since become an Academy-Award winner. Morris's latest documentary "Tabloid" was an art-house hit earlier this year:

"If you want to do a film, then steal a camera, steal raw stock, sneak into a lab and just do it."


SIDEBAR ONE: We found out yesterday that actress Anne Hathaway, whom I have admired since she made the 2005 independent film "Havoc" and has since made box office successes, such as "The Devil Wears Prada," is getting engaged. We should wish the actress, who turned 29 earlier in the month well, but frankly we are as jealous as Daffy Duck! Assuredly, anyone wanting more info on Hathaway's personal life can watch "TMZ" as we are moving on to other things.

SIDEBAR TWO: This might seem like a headline from the fake news publication "The Onion," but it is in fact an actual headline from the current issue of "Seattle Weekly:" "The gay softball team that wasn't gay enough has reached a settlement."

Indeed, in 2008, the San Francisco-based gay softball team D2, which finished second at the Gay Softball World Series in Seattle, was disqualified because they allegedly had two or three bisexual or heterosexual players. We first heard about this from the same publication, and blogged about it last year (search our 'gay politics' tag to learn more).

Apparently, the matter went to court, and it has reached a binding resolution. We can imagine that this story may actually be a topic of discussion for both gay rights activist/sex advice columnist Dan Savage and a right-wing talking head,like Rush Limbaugh, who may use this as an example of extreme political correctness (but, I guess rebel-flag waving Confederate apologists in 2011 is ok?!),.......only in America!

Road Trip- Trenton, NJ, to Seattle

Like Bela Lugosi, our Road Trip series has returned from the dead!

Today, we ask you the faithful blog-reader, and if you are one of the 13 people reading this blog you are quite faithful!, to guess how far it is from Trenton, NJ, to Seattle, Wash. (well, there is only one Seattle, right?).

To do this, we Mapquested the mileage between two Turkish restaurants in each zip code. Our choices were the Trenton Kebab House in Trenton and the Bistro Turkuaz in Seattle.

Here are the choices:

A) 48 hours, 40 minutes

B) 46 hours, 30 minutes

C) 45 hours, 10 minutes

D) 43 hours, 20 minutes

SIDEBAR: It seems like Burlington, Vermont, where it is 70 degrees as we speak would be a nice place to me especially since it is scorching in my part of the world. Today, it was 98 degrees in Norfolk, Va., 97 degrees in Baltimore and 93 degreees in Philadelphia!

SIDEBAR TWO: Though we haven't listened to the music of Los Straitjackets as much as we should, we want to wish the band's guitar player Danny Amis success in his battle with cancer. The Nashville-based band plays Spanish-language versions of rock and roll favorites and they are known for sporting Lucha Libre (Mexican wrestling) masks on stage. A benefit concert for Amis will be taking place soon according to the NPR show "Fresh Air."

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Former Guns N Roses Member Has a Beef

For those who grew up with Guns N Roses in the late 1980s, the band's anthem "Welcome to the Jungle" has a special place in our hearts.

But, Duff McKagan, a former member of the band, wrote in "Seattle Weekly" that he is not happy the song is now being played to rev up fans at Yankee Stadium.

Duff made his comments in a guest column for the journal, and he said while he is a huge sports fan, the song simply wasn't intended to be the equivalent of Queen's song "We Will Rock You."

SIDEBAR: Hooray for Duke University's hapless football team which beat Navy 34-31 for their first win of the year in Annapolis, Md., last weekend. This week, the BlueDevils host The University at noon on their home turf in Durham, NC.

My alma mater Glenvar High School in Salem, Va., goes on the road to the mountain hamlet of Floyd, Va., to face the Floyd County High School Buffalos. We wish the Highlanders luck, though personally I prefer the other school's mascot to our's!

SIDEBAR TWO: Our fellow liberal friend The Kansan, who is really from Kansas and a Kansas Jayhawks fan, tweeted today that: "One often hears the question: Do you have to politicize everything? The answer is of course yes!

On that note, we invite our readers to insert their favorite Sarah Palin joke in our comment section. I am deliberating as to which country I would move to if she becomes president in 2012. My top three choices are Norway, Costa Rica and Tunisia (we had to choose one Muslim to irk the Christian conservatives, though admitedly it would be quite hot in North Africa!).

Top Ten Horror Films of All Time

Since it is October, we thought we'd post an entry about the supposed Greatest Horror Films of All-Time. The Internet Movie Database in Seattle came up with this list based on member voting.

It's an interesting list (actually included 50 films with "Saw" taking the last spot), and we do agree with the Number One selection of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," though I was surprised that solid horror films like "Carrie" (well, ok it's a bit kitschy) and "Poltergeist" didn't make the full list.

But, here is the Top Ten.....perhaps not surprisingly, most of these films have been remade- some several times over:

1. "Psycho" (pictured with Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates) (1960 version)
2. "Alien" (1979)
3. "The Shining" (1980 film version)
4. "Diabolique" (France, 1955 version)
5. "The Thing" (1982 version)
6. "King Kong" (1933 version)
7. "Rosemary's Baby" (1968)
8. "The Exorcist" (1973, there was actually a remake in Turkey!)
9. "The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari" (Germany, 1920)
10. "Frankenstein" (1931 version)

Joe Scott will be presenting "Silence of the Lambs" as part of the horror film segment of his Mixed Tape Series at the Carousel Luxury Cinemas in Greensboro, NC, on Oct. 21. At last report, showtimes were 7:00 and 10:00 p.m.

In Roanoke, Va., my friend Jason Garnett screens "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (of course we known the 1975 campy muscial cult classic with Susan Sarandon is not a horror movie!) on Oct. 30th at the Shadowbox Cinema at 10 p.m.

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- The White House Soup de Jour Is...

In case you were wondering, today The White House is offering Tuscan Chicken Soup as its soup of the day, according to a tweet from WashDCNews.

The tweeters gathered this info from Chuck and Todd with the MSNBC show "The Morning Rundown."

Recipes for the dish can be found at cooks.com

Alas, President Barack Obama will miss out on the soup as he is giving a talk today in Seattle, which is more than 3,000 miles away from Washington, DC, but hopefully Michelle Obama will get to sample the soup.

We have no info on what Bo the White House Dog will be eating today, but as we find out, we will pass it along to you!


SIDEBAR: Some unique films are showing this week at college town cinemas in Virginia. The Vinegar Hill Theatre in Charlottesville is currently showing "Winter's Bone," a thriller set in Arkansas in which a young girl tries to track down her deadbeat father who put the family home up for sale so he could make bail before vanishing.

At the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, "Cyrus" will begin its week-long run on Friday. The independent mumble-core comedy starring Marisa Tomei, John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill deals with an average Joe who gets very lucky when he makes love to a gorgeous woman out of his league only to discover that she has a psychopathic 21-year-old son who happens to live with her.

50 Beers From Around the Globe- Cerveza Quilmes (Argentina)

Today's entry focuses on Cervez Quilmes, the most popular brew in Argentina so much so that the brand is considered a national symbol (according to Wikipedia).

Quilmes has been brewed since 1888, and it can not only be found in bars in Buenos Aires, but also in Mexico, Honduras, Peru, Spain, France, Italy and apparently here in the United States.

The beer also sponsors Argentina's soccer team, which fared well in the World Cup until they met Germany which beat them 4-0!

While researching this piece, we came across an informative and interesting beer blog (brbeerscene.com) from Eric Ducote of Baton Rouge, La.

We gather from the blog that Eric is traveling or recently came back from Seattle.

While Googling bars in Seattle, we came across The Alibi Room located in the historic Pike Place Market.

We have no idea if they have any beer from Argentina or not, but it sure looks like a hip, happening place!

Top Ten Places I Want to Visit in the USA

Today, we start a new segment on our blogs devoted to Top Ten lists. Before we start, let's wish actor Donald Sutherland a happy 75th birthday. The IFC, in conjunction with a film blog from TheNerve.com which my good friend Bilge Ebiri used to edit, named Sutherland's steamy love scene with Julie Christie in the '70s film "Don't Look Now" as the greatest sex scene of all time! Kudos on that too....


We have never been to any of these places, and since we are pressed for time, let's just throw them here on the canvass:

1. Seattle- Home of the Starbucks Corp.!

2. Austin, Tex.

3. Boise, Idaho- Home of the minor league hockey team the Idaho Steelheads!

4. Helena, Montana

5. Ann Arbor, Mich.- My late father went to school there a very long time ago.

6. Eugene, Oregon- College town where the late author Ken Kessey lived.

7. Miami- We are referring to the large city in Florida, not Miami, Okl.

8. Los Angeles- Man, I would really like to see The Roxy, The Echo and (of course!) The Viper Room!

9. St. Paul, Minn.- Of course, I'm sure there are other things besides "Prairie Home Companion."

10. North Pole, Alaska- This is NOT the town where Sarah Palin was mayor!

Things We Learned on Twitter This PM- Drugstore Cowboy Author Arrested

We read this disturbing tweet from "The Seattle Times" this afternoon:

"Author of the book Drugstore Cowboy is one of two men arrested Tues. during Redmond pharmacy robbery."

Indeed, James Fogle whose novel "Drugstore Cowboy" about his experiences robbing pharmacies to get drugs to feed his addiction which inspired the excellent 1989 independent film of the same name (pictured here; it starred Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch) was arrested by police in Redmond, Wash., near Seattle for robbing a drugstore.

Fogle allegedly tied up employees of the pharmacy and he was charged with first degree robbery. The author had spent much of his life in prison on charges of robbing such places in the past.

On a ligther note, model/actress Brooke Burke, who has some 1.8 million followers on Twitter, tweeted that she was: "Walking to the park with kids....haven't had a day like this in a long time....."

Isn't that exciting?!

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!).