Last Ten Films We've Seen (as of Sept. 22nd): Some Pretty Violent Films

Greetings to our blog readers in Ireland, Jordan and Japan.

With two gangster films ("Killing List" and "The Drop") plus one horror film (the "Carrie" remake/reboot) in addition to a Turkish film dealing with domestic violence ("The Confession"), there are some quite violent films on the list.

But, there are light films as well, and since Ben Stiller's film "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," a remake of the 1947 Danny Kaye classic, is about daydreaming, we thought we'd post a photo of a Turkish babe in a hot black bikini, I suppose in Yemen, this entry will be censored.....oh well!

Boris Spassky, the great Russian chess player (top image) is being used in conjunction with "The Master," one of the great films in the acting career of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, and conversely the yellow crayon is for "I Am Curious Yellow," a steamy left-wing experimental Swedish film from 1967 which includes footage of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here are the last ten films we've seen (as of Sept. 22nd):

1. The Master. 2012. Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

2. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. 2013. Dir: Ben Stiller

3. The Lego Movie. 2014. Dirs: Phil Lord; Christopher Miller

4. The Drop. 2014. Dir: Michael R. Roskam (last film of James Gandolfini)

5. Killing List. 2011. Dir: Ben Wheatley

6. The Confession. Turkey. 2002. Dir: Zeki Demirkubuz

7. I Am Curious Yellow. Sweden. 1967. Dir: Vilgot Sjoman

8. The Great Beauty. Italy. 2013. Dir: Paolo Sorrentino

9. Nathalie. France. 2003. Dir: Anne Fontaire

10. Carrie. 2013. Dir: Kimberly Peirce.

The Last Ten Films We've Seen......Imports and Exports

1. Dark Horse. 2011. dir.- Todd Solondz w/ Selma Blair and Christopher Walken.

2. The People vs. George Lucas doc. 2010. dir- Alexander O. Philippe

3. Dust Devil. 1992. dir- Richard Stanley

*4. Bal/Honey. Turkey. 2010. dir.- Semih Kaplanoglu

5. They Might Be Giants. 1971. dir- Anthony Harvey w/George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward

6. Wrong. 2012. dir.- Quentin Dupieux (the director of "Rubber," a film about a tire that kills people)

7. Cave of Forgotten Dreams. doc. 2012. dir- Werner Herzog

8. King of California. 2007. dir. Mike Cahill w/Michael Douglas

9. Between Us. 2012. dir- Dan Miriush w/Julia Stiles

10. Locke. 2013. dir- Steven Knight

*-Film we have previously watched before

http://www.imdb.com

http://www.filmcomment.com

http://www.netflix.com

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

DC Week (6 of 8): Congressional Reps from Red States

This list of Congressional reps contains some familiar names, including Cong. James Clyburn (D-SC; pictured top) who is an assistant Democratic leader in the House and Cong. Tom Cole (R-Okl.;pictured bottom) was once head of the Republican National Committee.

Cong. Mark Sanford (R-SC) won a seat in Congress_as a Republican no less_ in spite of a major sex scandal when he was governor of the Palmetto State.

Cong. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex) is the identical twin of Julian Castro, the mayor of San Antonio; Julian made what even non-partisan pundits considered an exemplary speech at the Democratic Convention in Charlotte, NC, last year.

Cong. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) made headlines today because of a clash with Cong. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) which went viral on the Internet, which gives us hope that someone, perhaps a bored teenager in Welch, West Virginia, might read this entry.

The middle image is of a game of chess because government shutdown seems to be a 16-day chess game which constantly ends in a stale mate.


Here is the list:

1. Mark Sanford (R-SC), 53, 1st District, Homeland Security; Transportation and Infastructre

2. James Clyburn (D-SC), 73, 6th dist., asst. Democratic leader

3.Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.), 39, 20th dist., Armed services; foreign affairs

4. Kay Granger (R-Tex.), 70, 12th dist., Appropriations

5. Nick Rahall (D-WVa), 67, 3rd dist., Transportation and Infastructre

6. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), 40, 2nd district, Homeland security; Judiciary

7. Tom Cole (R-Okl.), 63, 4th dist., Appropriations; Budget; Rules

8. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), 46, 3rd dist., Homeland security; Judiciary, Oversight and Govt. Reform

9. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), 59, 5th dist., Armed Services; oversight and govt. reform

10. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), 1st district, Small Business; Veterans Affairs (his district consists of a walloping 63 counties).  

http://clyburn.house.gov/

http://www.chess.com/

http://www.thehill.com

http://cole.house.gov/

Virtual Postcard from Virginia- The Big Pencil

Today, we send you a virtual postcard from my home state of Virginia with this image of The Big Pencil in Wytheville, a southwestern Virginia town that is one hour west of Roanoke. Wytheville is also known as the place where highways I-77 and 1-81 intersect, and the town is reportedly exactly half-way between New York and Miami.

The Big Pencil was once featured in a "Zippy the Pinhead" comic strip, that is the brainchild of Bill Griffith. The town is in the congressional district of Cong. Morgan Griffith (R), a Republican from my hometown of Salem, Va., whom I know personally. But......well, I am not a Republican, but of course one should not say negative things about a friend in spite of political differences. It would be great if I could challenge him to a game of chess, bowling or mini-golf, but we doubt the freshman congressman has time for that. We should also point out that the cartoonist and the congressman are not related.

SIDEBAR: Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, you probably can not spell the words Gladiolous and Crustaceaology, those are two words that were once used as Spelling Bee championship words in 1925 and 1955 respectively. Gladiolous, hope we spelled that right, is a type of flower; the other term was once used for the study of all things crustacean.

SIDEBAR: We are 'taking off' until Tuesday....We hope....!

http://www.zippythepinhead.com

Beers of the World (#46)- Zywiec Beer from Poland

Today, we feature Zywiec Beer from Poland, a country I actually lived in as a six-year-old kid in 1976. The beer is made by the Zywiec Brewery, which is the oldest one in Poland. It was founded in 1852. Zywiec Beer became nationalized by 1950.

This lead to a court case between the Polish government and the Habsburg family who originally owned the brewery, and it was settled in 2005.

There are 70 breweries and 27 microbreweries in Poland.

We actually learned about this beer through a Beer Geography Quiz on mentalfloss.com, which are basically as addictive as Twinkies and heroin.

If you are wondering where entry #45 is, that can be found on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire." That brew happens to be Chang Beer from Thailand.

SIDEBAR: There is a very moving story today on the WUNC-FM (91.5-Chapel Hill) show "The State of Things" about Chapel Hill sports writer Tim Crothers who traveled to Africa to meet Phiona Mutesi, a 14-year-old girl from Uganda who lives in dires. She has nevertheless amazingly become one of the best young chess players in the real and she competed at a global tournament in a Siberian city in Russia. Mutesi said she had no idea what the weather was like in Siberia, so she asked: "Is it cold there?" The article by Crothers was in a January issue of "ESPN Magazine."

Songs of Our youth (8 of 11)

"One Night in Bangkok" by Murray Head

For those wondering why the chess board, the song was originally part of a Broadway production called "Chess."

21 Words in Norwegian (15 of 21)

Queen


Dronning



I returned to chess after a long absence a few years ago. But, I decided to quit after losing to a 9-year-old girl. However, in hind sight, I think I walked away from chess a bit prematurely. She was after all the Virginia state champion (in her division), but it was still a 9-year-old girl!

Salt Lake City Discovery...Joe Bankhead

Have you ever noticed that you meet some of the most interesting folks you've ever met while you are on the road? Though I don't travel as much as my mother Lila Sullivan, who is now reportedly in Hannibal, Mo., I do periodically get out of the two states I live between.
My last venture was to Salt Lake City, Ut. One of my favorite movie theatres after the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va., is the Tower Theater in the 9th and 9th section of SLC. And, before going to see a midnight screening of "Swiss Family Robinson" there, I went over to The Coffee Garden.
It was there that I came across Joe Bankhead who travels between Utah, New Mexico and Texas. Bankhead is an artist, philosopher and semi-professional chess player. I once played chess fairly regularly until a 9-year-old girl who proved to be the Virginia state championship in her age group beat me as I was playing chess at a local club in Roanoke. I played a game of chess with Joe as well. It was the same result (I lost), but it was much less humiliating than losing to the girl.
Thanks to the internet, I have actually been able to keep in touch with Joe. I read his semi-monthly newsletter as I was traveling back from Utah. And, now as it turns out, he has his own blog.
So, I am using my blog to promote his blog with the full realization that if he can post youtube videos I may lose one of the two or three people who come to my blog regularly......I am of course one of those people too!
In his blog, Joe describes himself in the following way:
"I have been studying and learning everything I could find about the Total Human Being for many more years than I want to admit........."
For Joe's blog, you can go to:
http://transformationfreedom.blogspot.com/