Potluck Quote (2 of 10): Slavoj Zizek

According to the Instagram site for "Mental Floss," the American embassies for nations of Slovenia and Slovakia get together once a month to exchange letters that are meant for the other. We imagine the folks at "Washington Diplomat" are fully aware of this.

And, perhaps by merely mentioning Peter Sagal, the host of NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," who actually wrote a play called "Denial" some twenty years ago, we can get a few more domestic hits for this blog.

Today, we quote Slovenian left-leaning philosopher Slavoj Zizek who is probably not admire by either Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio:

"When I really love someone, I can only show it by making aggressive and bad-taste remarks."

Comic Strip Dialogue from The Roanoke Times: Any Cheese Will Do

With Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek sandwiched between Gouda cheese, which should hopefully get us some hits in the Netherlands, and a chocolate glazed donuts, which New Jersey's Republican governor Chris Christie can eat by the dozen (well, even if we were Republicans, we'd have to admit the guy is a bit fat, but at least he's to the far-left of Rick Perry, the execution-happy Republican governor of Texas), we give you dialogue from comic strips which appeared today in "The Roanoke Times."

The Gouda cheese is in reference to "Blondie" as Dagwood asks Elmo, who is presumably the neighbor's son, what kind of cheese he wants on his sandwich. Zizek is in reference to a line in "Dilbert" about philosophy. And, chocolate donuts tempted both John and his beloved title character cat in today's "Garfield."

Here we go:

1) "How are you feeling today, Agnes?" (from "Agnes")

2) "I'm trying to develop a new philosophy for my life" (from "Dilbert")

3) "Look, we agreed this wouldn't be easy.....we BOTH have to be strong." (from "Garfield)

4) "How about Gouda? I've got some smoked Gouda!" (from "Blondie")

5) "It's a New Year Tradition" (from "Jump Start")

6) "Exercise is great, but it's important not to overdo it," (from "Pickles")

7) "You sneeze like a gerbil," (from "Zits")

8) "Now Boarding. Rows five and above" (from "Funky Winkerbean")

9) "Nice. So what's our exit strategy?" (from "Doonesbury")

10) "Security." (from "Pearls Before Swine")

http://www.slovenia.info/

http://www.dilbert.com

http://www.garfield.com

http://www.funkywinkerbean.com/

http://www.philosophytalk.org/ (NPR show about philosophy)

http://www.rnw.nl/english (Radio Netherlands)

Quote of the Week (Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Zizek)

We continue our series of 32 quotes from 32 people associated with the 32 countries in this year's World Cup with a quote from the great Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, born in 1949.

Zizek, who was the subject of a 2005 documentary film, has written many books, including "Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle" (2004) which was reportedly very critical of the war in Iraq.

The Slovenian philosopher is also a socialist and an atheist and his other books include "In Defense of Lost Causes" (2008) and the current release "Living in the End Times" (2010)---yes, I think that's a strange title for a book by an atheist too!

Zizek wrote an op-ed in 2006 for "The New York Times" which said that atheism was a great legacy of Europe, and he has said that all churches should be converted into culture halls (I would prefer cinemas!).

As a fellow film enthuiast, I chuckled when Zizek listed the horror film sequel "Freddy Versus Jason" (2003) as one of his favorite 'guilty pleasures' for an article in "Film Comment," even though I have never seen the movie.

Zizek is also known for his contribution to both political theory and film theory.

And, as this quote indicates, he even has opinions about food!:

"The same rightists who decades ago were shouting, 'Better dead than red!," are now often heard mumbling, 'Better red than eating hamburgers."

The World Cup, incidentally, is the latest entry for the highly popular blog "Stuff White People Like," which became a book of the same name.

SIDEBAR: If one is residing in the DC-metro area, they may want to check out World Cup coverage at The Wing Hub on Cordell Ave., in Bethesda, Md., where Thursday night is also Poker Night!