Olympic Cities Destination Quiz (5 of 6)- Helsinki-Antwerp

Hey kids, for those of you who are not sitting at a multi-plex in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, watching "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises," we offer you free entertainment and a geography lesson as we look at the distance between Antwerp, Belgium, which hosted the Olympics way back in 1920, and Helsinki, Finland, which did the honors in 1952.

A mere 29 countries competed in Belgium, but among them was American swimmer Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968), whew glad, we double-checked the spelling!, who won gold. He would later become an actor and an icon in his native Hawaii.

In Antwerp, Italian fencer Nedo Nadi (1894-1940) won a record five gold medals in his sport.

As for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, which had 69 countries participating, Soviet/Ukrainian gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya (1921-2001) who might have the longest surname in Olympics history won an all-around gold medal in women's gymnastics and six medals overall. In 1990, she emigrated to Israel.

So, we are asking just how far apart these two European Olympics cities are from one another; is the answer:

A) 1,061 miles

B) 1,265 miles

C) 1,333 miles

D) 1,409 miles

Note: The above images are of the iconic Belgian comic book hero Tintin and his dog Snowy, and a member of the very unique Finnish band the Leningrad Cowboys.

Whoops, We Forgot Belgium

Well, we are posting this simply to balance this blog with our other blog "The Daily Vampire," where we made an error sending an entry meant for this blog on that one.

But, we were thinking about taking a day off from blogging tomorrow to go wash dogs at an animal shelter in Lynchburg, Va. (that is a joke, but we understand there is a great animal shelter in that city).

Alas, an image we hoped to post of Borat at the rodeo in Salem, Va., which is my hometown, as featured in the film "Borat" fell through in our Kazakhstan entry due to technical problems or perhaps a block from that particular site. (By the way, the answer is B for the question in that entry).

And, earlier today, I was able to name 24 of the 25 cities that have hosted or will host the summer Olympics in mentalfloss.com quiz. We forgot about the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. I have even been to Antwerp, Belgium, (back in 1993) but I completely forgot that the city was an Olympic host. Our apologies to Tintin, and everyone else in Belgium.

Yvonne Tousek, a former Olympic gymnast and UCLA stand-out competed for Canada, who I get to chat with every now and then, competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She is curently performing with Cirque du Soleil.

I would say that I competed for Turkey (my late father's homeland) in greco-roman wrestling at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, when I would have been 22 years old, but I imagine the actual members of that team would not care for the joke.

Special Quote of the Day- Voltaire

Since today is Bastille Day in France, the country that brought us Tintin (just kidding, Belgium!), we thought we'd quote from the famous philosopher and plawright Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire (1694-1778) whom everyone simply knows as Voltaire. And, here is the quote:

"Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice, and need."

Of course, he said all this a few centuries before the advent of Facebook and Twitter.

Happy Chanukah from Lolek and Bolek

We're not sure how popular the Polish cartoon characters Lolek and Bolek were in Israel, but they were the only cartoon that was allowed on Iranian television after the infamous Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Like the Belgian comic book character Tintin, the boys frequently traveled around the world in their mischievious adventures, including voyages to the Amazon, the Orient and the American Wild West (ironic considering the cartoon was made during the Iron Curtain years).

I happen to be a big fan of Lolek and Bolek (which I used to mistakenly call Olek and Bolek) because I watched the cartoon quite frequently when our family lived in Czestochowa, Poland, (pronounced Chestahova) when we lived there as my father was working at a steel mill as part of a joint effort with General Electric in 1976.

Czestochowa is a city of 240,000 that is best known for being featured in the religious iconic painting "The Black Madonna of Czestochowa."

Lolek and Bolek were created by animator Wladyslaw Nehrbecki (1923-1978) and the characters were based on his two sons. It is available through Netflix in the United States.

SIDEBAR: Not every theatre in the country is performing Christmas plays, as Playmakers Rep in Chapel Hill, NC, is currently performing the Donald Margulies play "Shipwrecked," an adventure story that takes place in Victorian England from now until Dec. 19.

Quote of the Day- Yves Montand

Ironically, our quote today comes from the much-admired late left-wing French actor/singer Yves Montand who was (ironically, again) born in Italy.

Montand appeared in many classic films around the world, including "Z," "Le Cercle Rouge," "Tout va Bien!" (a Jean-Luc Godard film with Jane Fonda), "Let's Make Love" (with Marilyn Monroe) and "The Wages of Fear."

Here is the quote:

"Pacifists are like sheep who believe that wolves are vegetarians."

SIDEBAR: Today is Belgian Independence Day. The Brassiere Beck, a Belgian place in Washington, DC, is celebrating with a $49 all-you-can-eat buffett today. We have jokingly referred to Belgium as Tintinland on this blog since the country is known for the much-adored comic book character Tintin.