A Pictorial Tribute to Istanbul.........

In lieu of yesterday's ISIS-likely terrorist attack in the Sultanahmet tourist district in Istanbul which killed nine Germans and one Peruvian visitor to Istanbul, we are presenting a pictorial tribute to one of the world's great cities, which stretches across two continents.

For this entry, we had many ideas and we regret that we could not fit all of them in, including ones depicting many of the Armenian and Greek Orthodox churches in Istanbul as well as tourist meccas like the Grand Bazaar and the Topkapi Palace as well as landmarks like the Haydar Pasha train station on the Asian side.

But, we have these six images, they are of 1) The Bosporus Bridge which connects Europe and Asia; 2) the Atlas Cinema, built in 1948, in Beyoglu; 3) horse carriages in Buyukada, the largest of the four Princess Islands; 4) a fish meal in Kumkapi (in Turkey, the heads are kept on the fish unless you ask a server otherwise); 5) a view of the Blue Mosque; and 6) a view of Sariyer on the Asian side.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Istanbul

http://www.dailyistanbultours.com

http://www.turkeyplanner.com

Remembering Roger Ebert- the Great American Movie Critic

With this image of the historic Byrd Theatre in Richmond, Va., which along with the Grandin Theatre in my hometown of Roanoke is one of the oldest movie palaces which is still in existence, we pay tribute to Roger Ebert.

The great American film credit died after a long bout with cancer today at age 70.

Many heart-felt tributes have been pouring in from the likes of movie blogger Ali Arikan, a personal friend, and documentary filmmaker Erroll Morris. Ebert and his "At the Movies" co-host the late Gene Siskel brought Morris' acclaimed late '80s documentary film "The Thin Blue Line" a greater public awareness than it may have normally recieved.

Here is a quote from Ebert:

"Every great film should seem new every time you see it."

Thanks, Roger.

http://www.byrdtheatre.com

Quote of the Day/Week_ Pablo Picasso

Today's quote of the day comes from the great Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) who would be celebrating the fact that his country will play against Italy in the Euro Cup 2012 Championships, but if he were alive today, Picasso would be 110 years old (he was born in October, yeah, we double-checked on Google).

We are quoting Picasso because he is one of the subjects of the Unemployed Philosophers Guild plush toy doll series; these items usually retail for circa $17.95.

Since we spent way too much time quoting Andy Warhol on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire," which gets more traffic than this blog, except in Slovenia and Ukraine, we will go ahead and just quote Picasso here:

"Every positive value has its price in negative terms....the genius of Einstein lead to Hiroshima."

SIDEBAR ONE: We learned today from the Urban Dictionary that one of the new words of the moment is 'dorkus malorkus,' which is Latin for dork. The term originated in an episode of "The Simpsons," where Bart, who would now be 31 if he aged in real time, uses this term to express disdain towards his sister.

SIDEBAR TWO: Among the topics trending on Twitter as of 8:00 p.m., Belfast, Maine*, time, are: Obamacare, John Roberts, a trio of NBA draft basketball players: Andre Drummond, Austin Rivers and Harrison Barnes as well as Bill Bell, the mayor of Durham, NC, where "The Herald-Sun" is the local newspaper. Ok, the last one is a joke, Mayor Bell, who is a real person with his own Wikipedia page, is not trending on Twitter, but his hometown minor league baseball team the Durham Bulls host the Norfolk Tides for the Fourth of July. The city is also home to Duke University where Austin Rivers played college basketball.

*- We are not actually in Belfast, Maine, as of this posting, but it is a lovely town, and we see that the Colonial Theatre (a historic cinema there) is screening "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel."


http://www.colonialtheatre.com

http://www.cinematreasures.org

http://www.pablopicasso.org

http://www.philosophersguild.com

http://www.durhamnc.gov

http://www.heraldsun.com

Bonus Road Trip- (6 of 10) Springfield, Vt., to Springfield, Mass.

First of all, our apologies to Stephen Colbert and Morgan Spurlock. We were unable to put Colbert's, a political humorist/actor, and Spurlock's names into the tags from our last blog, so we will just simply, arbitrarly mention them here.

Today, we compare the relatively short distance between Springfield, Mass., home to the Basketball Hall of Fame, to Springfield, Vermont, which actually beat out all Springfields to host the premiere of "The Simpsons Movie" in 2007. Since many believe that the Springfield in "The Simpsons" is modeled after Springfield, Mass. (though that is never mentioned), many in basketball town were disappointed.

But, the premiere screening of the film took place in a historic old cinema in Springfied, Vt., which was pleasantly pleased with the publicity.

There are also Springfields in Illinois, Missouri, Virginia, Kentucky and...ahhh, I'm getting a headache!

Of course, if one were to take this short drive, they would probably want to go in a school bus, but they may not want a person like Otto Mann, (hmmm, I wonder if this is a joke about the Ottoman Empire; I am a Turkish-American, so I suppose I should be humored or annoyed by this. Ironically, Principal Skinner is an Armenian-American!), who is voiced by the great Harry Shearer.

Shearer, who is not only known for voicing Otto and Principal Skinner, but his great acting in the 1985 cult classic "This is Spinal Tap!," recently showed his serious side with a documentary called "The Big Uneasy" about the Hurricane Katrina fiasco. Shearer is a part-time resident of New Orleans.

So, is the distance between these two zip codes?:

A) 1 hour, 20 minutes

B) 1 hour, 30 minutes

C) 1 hour, 40 minutes

D) 1 hour, 55 minutes

E) 2 hours, 10 minutes

SIDEBAR: Alas, the University of North Carolina Tarheels women's volleyball team fell to Pepperdine University on the host school's home floor in Malibu, Calif., late last night (eastern time). The score for the Waves was 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-22), but junior Emily McGee of the 'Heels scared 18 kills; for her career, she now has 1,0004 kills in NCAA play.

SIDEBAR 2: Yes, it does appear that presidential campaign of fringe, far-right Republican candidate Herman Cain is now over with. But, we saw a tweet from "The Huffington Post" which said the former Godfather's Pizza baron, who has not admitted to infedelity or sexual harrassments charges, allegedly did fess up to quoting Pokemon in various campaign speeches.

Road Trips USA (4 of 20) West Virginia and Georgia

Well, for starters, we hope our image of West Virginia University gymnast Hope Sloanhoffer, a freshman from Cornwall, NY, was posted correctly. Secondly, we hope our friends in Portland, Oregon, are enjoying their lunch hour and telling everyone they know about our blog.

Today, we look at the distance between Black Bear Burritos in Morgantown, WVa, and the very famous/hip/greasy diner The Varsity in Athens, Ga., since WVU will be traveling to the University of Georgia this weekend for a regional meet along with UCLA, Maryland, North Carolina State, LSU and the host Gymdawgs.

Is the distance:

A) 9 hours even

B) 9 hours, 20 minutes

C) 9 hours, 40 minutes

D) 10 hours, 5 minutes

Alas, both towns have had problems with their historic old movie cinemas. The Warner Theatre in Morgantown closed in September, and the Georgia Theatre in Athens had a fire in 2009, but we gather they are in the process of renovating that building.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Let's Go to the Movies!

Today, we focus with a Silly Photo to Fill Space aimed at summer jobs and what could be better than working at a movie theatre and fixing popcorn?! (I actually did that job and lemme tell ya, popcorn burns hurt like h-e-double 'l').

Our feature city of the month is Trenton, NJ, where one can see the Zac Efron film "Charlie St. Cloud," which my friend Moviezzz has cited as an early Oscar contender on his blog http://www.talkingmoviezzz.blogspot.com (that is a joke and a big one at that!) at the Destina Theatre at Independence Plaza on South Broad Street.

As for historical cinemas in "Clerks" director Kevin Smith's home state, there is The Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ, which will host Foreigner (uh-oh, I think "I Wanna Know What Love Is" is going to go off in my skull...yep, it just did!) on Aug. 26.

The web site Cinema Treasures, which is dedicated to movie theatres around the globe, is featuring the Capitol Theatre in Olympia, Wash., as its Cinema of the Week. The cinema in the Washington state capital will be showing the documentary "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" from Aug. 14-20. Call (360) 754-6670 for more info.

Lastly, we were delighted to see Cinema Tresures mention the Atlas Cinema in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul, Turkey. It may well be the hippest sinema (that's how cinema is spelled in Turkish) in the vast metropolis and they are (alas!) probably
showing "Charlie St. Cloud" too!

Old Cinemas_The Victoria Theatre in San Francisco

San Francisco may be one of the very few zip codes in America where I might actually be a Republican (that is certainly not the case in rural North Carolina where I reside!).

Of course, a place like San Francisco has many unique cultural attractions, and from what I've read The Victoria Theatre seems to fit that proverbial bill.

The theatre began as a vaudeville house when it was built in 1908. The Victoria began to show films in the 1930s, and it later became a burlesque house in the 1960s (pictured here).

The Victoria was closed in 1976, and it reopened a few years later.

Currently, the cinema is showing the independent film "Rolling," which is about an underground warehouse party in Los Angeles where a teacher, a drug dealer, a lawyer and a high school senior look for their next thrill.

The Victoria, located in the Mission District, seats 480 people. It was also featured in the 1973 Walter Matthau film "The Laughing Policeman."

It is located at:

2961 16th Street
San Francisco, Calif.
(415) 863-7576.

Cinema of the Week (9 of 21) Warner Theatre in Morgantown, WVa

This week we focus on another historic movie theatre, and for the third week in a row, we choose a cinema from a college town.

The Warner Theatre in Morgantown, WVa, is an art deco style cinema that was opened by Warner Brothers in 1931.

The three-screen theatre at 147 High Street, which is currently showing "Milk" and "Gran Torino," was built with an exquisite architectural design.

The Warner will be screening a midnight show of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" on March 21.

I have to wonder if my cousin Shanon Sturgis, who is a rocky horror fanatic, might venture from St.Louis to take it in!