10 for 10 (7th Entry): Virtual Postcard from North Carolina....

Greetings to our readers in Uruguay, Panama, and South Korea....

Our initial choice for a virtual postcard was the quaint small town of Madison, which is hosting a heritage festival on Saturday, Oct. 3rd, with 100 vendors, but we couldn't find a suitable image. Madison is in Rockingham County, which also includes the towns of Eden and Reidsville.

Instead, we opt for this photo of Old Salem in Winston-Salem, some 45 miles west of Madison. Winston-Salem is also the host of the River Run Film Festival in April, and the home of Wake Forest University.

In European soccer action today, Eden Hazard of Chelsea scored a late goal to solidify a 2-0 victory over their London crosstown rivals Arsenal.

In the Netherlands, Heracles upset PSV Eindhoven 2-1. And, in Turkey, the Istanbul powerhouse Galatasaray managed a 1-0 victory over perennial contender Trabzonspor.

http://www.townofmadison.org/

http://www.shoprockinghamcounty.com/

http://www.oldsalem.org/

http://www.visitwinstonsalem.com/

World Cup Lists (1 of 4): The Goal-Keepers

Greetings to our readers in Panama, Canada and the Czech Republic, who are among the many countries which alas did not make the World Cup field of 32.

We start our series of World Cup lists with a look at the goal-keepers for teams that have made the knock-out round of 16 in Brazil:

1) Jasper Cillessen. Netherlands. Age 25. Ajax Amsterdam (pictured top)

2) Fernando Muslera. Uruguay. 28. Galatasaray (Turkey; pictured center)

3) Vincent  Enyeama. Nigeria. 31. Lille (France; pictured bottom)

4) Orestis Karnezis. Greece. 28. Granada (Spain)

5) Julio Cesar. Brazil. 34. Toronto FC (Canada/MLS)

6) Tim Howard. USA. 35. Everton (USA)

7) David Ospina. Colombia. 25. Nice (France)

8) Keylor Navas. Costa Rica. 27. Levante (France)

9) Diego Benglio. Switzerland. 30. Wolfsburg (Germany)

10) Sergio Romero. Argentina. 31. Monaco (France)

11)  Thibut Courtois. Belgium. 22. Chelsea (England)

http://www.espn.go.com

Soccer Night: England_ Chelsea Is the Homecoming King

It is now 4:45 a.m. in London, England, and you are with the BBC; well, actually you are with us, and we are in Providence, Rhode Island (not really where we are, but the same time zone).

To avoid any confusion, let's first mention that the top image is of Theo Walcott of Arsenal who defeated struggling QPR 1-0 today on a goal from the English national in the very first minute of play. Similarly, Gareth Bale, one of the EPL's top stars, scored the lone goal for his Tottenham Hotspurs in a 1-0 win over Southampton.

Neither player is with Chelsea, the London team which has its logo in the middle, but Chelsea did advance to the UEFA Europa League finals in Amsterdam with a win over FC Basel, a Swiss team with a Turkish-Swiss coach Murat Yakin, who at 38 is younger than some active players.

The current EPL standings have Manchester United in first with 85 points (they have already clinched a league title) followed by Manchester City with 72 points. Arsenal is in third with 67 points. And, Chelsea and Tottenham are tied for fourth with 65 points.

The EPL has also made headlines for a biting incident involving the very notorious Luis Suarez of Liverpool, who plays for Uruguay internationally, against Chelsea. Alas, for the folks in Montevideo, Suarez is the most recognized person from their country. Perhaps, Vatican City should have chosen a pope from their country instead.

Let's cut the nonsense, here are the EPL scores for LAST week's games:

1. Manchester City 2 West Hampton 1

2. Reading 0 QPR 0, tie

3. Arsenal 1 Manchester United 1, tie

4. Everton 1 Fulton 0

5. West Brom 3 Southampton 0

6. Aston Villa 6 Sunderland 1

7. Chelsea 2 Swansea 0

8. Tottenham Hotspurs 2 Wigan Ath. 2, tie

9. Liverpool 6 Newcastle 0

http://www.premiereleague.com

http://www.nocturanlguy38.blogspot.com (Our sister blog)

50 Beers From Around the World- Patricia (Uruguay)

There was a great line in the 1996 Wes Anderson film "Bottle Rocket," which I finally saw last night even though its Criterion edition is alas apparently out of print (my friend Moviezzz would know for certain, but I don't wish to pester him now because there may be another trivial matter I need to ask him later).

It was when Luke Wilson meet a very attractive Hispanic maid at the motel he was staying at:

"Which part of Mexico are you from?"

"Paraguay."

Paraguay and Uruguay frequently get mixed up, but Patricia Beer hails from Uruguay where the capital is Montevideo and there is actually a coastline (Paraguay is landlocked). Neither countries are a part of Mexico.

Alas, we couldn't find out much about Patricia Beer on the web at all, but we love the name!

SIDEBAR: Late, late, late notice, but we just found from the current issue of the Greensboro alt weekly "Yes Weekly" that the Great North Carolina Beer Festival is happening today in Clemmons, NC, right outside Winston-Salem.

The local brews that were to be sampled there included Foothills (Winston-Salem) and Natty Greene's (Greensboro). Other North Carolina brands featured at this year's festival were Craggie-Battery Hill and Highland Brewery (Asheville) and Olde Hickory (Hickory).