We're Back: With a List of the Worst Oscar-Nominated Films That Did NOT win Best Picture

Alas, we have not seen "Airport" (1970) nor "Doctor Dolittle" (1966), but we have seen our fair share of films that got Best Picture Oscar winners that were not worthy of those nominations. Of course, since this blog's editor Tilly Gokbudak is a Turkish-American, who gets 'top billing' will probably not be a surprise!

Here we go:

1) Midnight Express (1978, see image one_ it is of oil wrestlers in Edirne, Turkey, close to the Bulgarian border)

2) Hello Dolly! (1969)

3) Love Story (1970, see image two...we actually like the film as a guilty pleasure)

4) Chocolat (2000)

5) Ghost (1990, see image of Casper the Ghost)

6) The Towering Inferno (1974)

7) District 9 (2009)

8) Seabiscuit (2003)

9) The Reader (2008)

10) Miracle on 34th Street (1946)

Tilly Gokbudak is Moving to Bulgaria in August

We are extremely pleased to announce that our boss, our own Spacely Sprokets if you will (forgive "The Jetsons" reference) Tilly Gokbudak is going to be teaching English in Sofia, Bulgaria, at the start of this year.

And, we also hope he finds himself the perfect woman for him while he is there!

Monday Night Post-Debate Tweets: Let's Play Battleship

Before we get to the 8 tweets that we will post here, we should point out the reasons for these images: 1) Cenk Uygur, a Turkish-American liberal tv show who was born in March of 1970, essentially he is the same person as Tilly Gokbudak (that is me) the editor of this blog, except the later does not have a tv show on Current TV or anywhere else 2) Battleship: Yes, President Barack Obama made the night's pop cultural reference tonight, and surely the popular '70s board game will sell out by the end of the weekend and 3) Golda Meir, the legendary late first prime minister of Israel.

Let's get started:

1) @EWErickson (Erik Erickson, conservative editor of redstate.com): "The lefties in my timeline are exceedingly angry. A good sign for Romney."

2) @JenGranholm (Jenifer Granholm is a former Democratic governor of Michigan who now has a tv show on Current TV): "RT @CBS News: Breaking: CBS News Instant Poll on who won the #debate? Obama
53 %, Romney 23 %, tie 24 %"

3) @CenkUygur (Cenk Uygur): "Romney people saying he has grown as a candidate. Pretty much devastating admission he got killed."

4) @JonEasley (Jonathan Easley, a reporter for "The Hill"): "Chris Wallace: A marine tweeted us to say the Marines still use bayonets, so it may not be clear who really knows." (Obama made reference to bayonets during the debate).

5) @NRO ("National Review," a conservative magazine): "Chris Matthews slams Obama for #pandering on Israel #debates." (It's ironic to see a conservative journal quipping a center-left pundit. Yes, this tweet is why we are using an image of Golda Meir).

6) @TheOnion ("The Onion" is a faux news outlet): "Obama takes out Romney with a Mid-Debate drone attack."

7) @DavidCornDC (David Corn is a reporter for "Mother Jones," a liberal magazine): "Romney wins the #deabte_ if you're measuring by production of presperation."

8) @politico ("Politico" is an objective political journal): "Obama to Romney: This is not a game of Battleship."

Quote of the Day/Week_ Rachel Weisz

Today, we continue quoting famous movie and television stars who were born in 1970, with a quip from Oscar-winning actress Rachel Weisz, who just turned 42 a week ago on March 7th. She is a mere three days younger than your's truly (Tilly Gokbudak, the managing editor of this blog).

Weisz won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "The Constant Gardener" (2005). Last year, she secretly wed Daniel Craig, aka the new James Bond. And, for many years, she was in a relationship with film director Darren Aronofsky ("The Wrestler," "Black Swan," the film which won Natalie Portman a Best Actress Oscar) and they share a child together.

Here is the quip from Weisz, which may be more true in her native England than here in America:

"I don't believe your soul mate has to share your politics."

Quote of the Week- Michael J. Fox

Aside from the conservative columnist George F. Will, who we have made fun from time to time, it's hard to think of many clebrities who use an initial with his or her time. If I were to do that, I'd have to refer to myself as Tilly F. Gokbudak, and that might be pretty annoying.

But, Michael J. Fox is one person who has made using his initial seem kinda cool. And, given his ordeal with Parkinson's Disease, the star of the "Back to the Future" movie franchise, who turned 50 this year, seems like a person who has earned this unique quirk.

This month, we are quoting famous Canadians, and though it's been a while perhaps since Fox was back home in Winnipeg (actually, we have no idea where he's from in Canada, and we don't have time to wiki it right now), he is indeed a famous Canadian.

And, here is his quote, from Fox who was also in the popular '80s sitcom "Family Ties," as he refers to his early fame.

"Everybody in the world knew who I was before I knew who I was."

SIDEBAR: We've had an occasional series on both of our blogs with the Tweet of the Day. For various reasons, we've been neglecting that lately, but I loved this one from Arsalan Iftikhar, better known as "The Muslim Guy," and it is great pie in the fae for someone who truly deserves it: "Anne Coulter said, 'our black guys are better than their blacks. This proves the devil wears prada.' The black guy that Coulter, a real-life right-wing Looney Tunes character, is Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, who is embroiled in a sexual harrasment controversy. Personally, I think there are at least 125 other reasons why he is not qualifies for president.

SIDEBAR TWO: Have you been in a bit of a funk, lately? Well, I will admit I have. Perhaps, it comes with being an adult on Halloween and realizing that you can't dress up like Underdog and go trick-or-treating like you did in 1976 (that was actually my costume 35 years ago).

But, apparently, there is someone who has made their inner demons public as the blog "hyperbolenadahalf.blogspot.com" which has great cartoons starts off like this:

"Some people have a legitimate reason to feel depressed, but not me. I just woke up one day feeling sad and hapless for no reason. It's disapppointing to feel sad for no reason."

And, on that note, when I last checked the earthquake which occured on Oct. 23rd in Van, Turkey, had reached a death toll of 596. Since I heard that two days ago, I imagine the number has risen up to 600*. Perhaps, now is a good time for a "Seinfeld" rerun!

*-For more info on how you can help, go to www.ataa.org which is the web page for ATAA, the main Turkish-American association in North America, based in Washington, D.C.

Tweet of the Day- Courtney Kupets (Former Georgia Gymnast)

Well, the college gymnastics season has been over and Courtney Kupets ended her impressive career at the University of Georgia two years ago. But, we found this tweet from Kupets, who was also a member of the national Olympic team to be very intriguing:

"I'm learning how to keep my car lookin new! Car wash, vacuum, and buffer! Now, I just need to touch up paint. Thanks dad."

SIDEBAR: I know given that name is (mr) Tilly Gokbudak, I often feel like my long name causes me needless problems whether it is at the pharmacy or the bowling alley, but I found these five last names on the Internet which made me realize I really can't complain. Here they are:

1. Dzhamgerchinov (Russian)

2. Niratpattanasai (Thailand)

3. Kocakthugagullarindan (Turkey)

4. MacGhilleseathanich (Welsh)

5. Featherstonehaughwolfeschlegelsteinhausenerdorff (German)

Whew!

Quote of the Week- Jacques Derrida

This is the first entry in a series of quotes from famous philosophers that will run on Mondays in March. It is perhaps fitting as we posted a blog entry in "The Daily Vampire," which is also by Tilly Gokbudak (who is me, yes I think referring to yourself as if you are someone else is quite obnoxious too!), about names that we had not spelled correctly that we have a quote from Jacques Derrida (1930-2004).

Up until I googled him about a half-hour ago, I wasn't sure if the late French philosopher's name was spelled with one 'd' or two 'd's. Well, it is Derrida!

Speaking of which, we should mention that we butchered Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's name in an entry last week, but like him, we refuse to apologize for any wrong-doings even if they are painfully obvious (unless, you can sue us and then of course, we will send you a dozen roses from FTD).

Derrida, who was the subject of a documentary film with his name in 2002, was born in Algeria as were many French intellectuals and cultural icons, including the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.

The French philosopher is known for developing the critical theory known as 'deconstruction' and his work has been associated with post-structuralism and post-modern philosophy.

We also gather that former president George W. Bush has read a lot of Derrida's works and is a great admirer of his (that is a joke, but I think even my Republican friends like Bill Kristol* will find it amusing).

Here is our quote from Derrida:

"I never give in to the temptation of being difficult just for the sake of being difficult. That would be ridiculous."

We must profess that since there is a tuxedo cat named "Gizmo" roaming around here in the office, that we really like this photo, that slightly reminds us of Marlan Brando's pose in "The Godfather."

*-I am not actually friends with the neo-con intellectual Bill Kristol, who founded "The Weekly Standard" which I assume is to the 'far-left' of "Soldier of Fortune" magazine, but he did, much to my shock, personally answer an email (it was actually not political in nature even though I have much different views than Kristol) that I had assumed one of his associates would read. So, I do feel obliged to say nice things about him which might be harder to do if I read his columns, which I presume are rather negative towards President Barack Obama.

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!