Silly Photo to Fill Space- Jack O'Lanterns

Halloween is still 24 days away, but not in America we start celebrating in late August. There is a web site called Trendhunter.com which actually offers partisan jack o'lanterns for both parties. But, since Sarah Palin has decided to not run for president, I am not sure how much fun that could be!

The Last Ten Films I've Seen- Lots of Dark Stuff

We need to put this relatively quickly, so it can get to our loyal readers in Pyonyang, North Korea. Of course, that is a joke. But, for those of you who haven't seen David Fincher's 1999 cinematic adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel "Fight Club," soap figures prominently in the film.

Here is the list:

1. "Contagion" 2011. dir- Steven Soderbergh. With Matt Damon and Kate Winslet

2. "Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge" 1991. dir- David DeCateau...yes, it is awful!

3. "Cold Weather" 2010. dir-Aaron Katz

4. "Ball of Fire" 1941. dir- Howard Hawks. With Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper

5. "Seven Men from Now." 1956. dir- Budd Boetticher. With Randolph Scott and Lee Marvin.

6. "Straw Dogs" 2011. dir-Rod Lurie. With Kate Bosworth. (the 1971 original directed by Sam Peckinpah is much better)

7. "Voices in Wartime." doc. 2005. dir-Rick King

8. "Sarah's Key." 2010. dir- Gilles Paquet-Brenner. With Kristin Scott Thomas.

9. "Fight Club." 1999. dir- David Fincher. With Ed Norton and Brad Pitt.

10. "Guys and Dolls" 1955. dir-Joseph L. Makiewicz. With Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.

Quote of the Week- Olga Korbut

Today's quote of the week comes from Olga Korbut, (whoops! I just realized she is from Belarus, not Russia) as we quote famous "Russians." Korbut (b. 1955) was a famed Olympic gymnast who won gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Here is her quote:

"It's better to have a rich soul than to be rich."

Quote of the Day- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Today's quote of the day comes from the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938) who was ironically born in what is now Greece, which has been Turkey's long-standing rival for many centuries. In fact, there has even been a brewhaha over Cyprus in recent weeks.

Here is Ataturk's quote:

"Unless a nation faces peril, war is murder."

Bonus Road Trip-NOLA to Branson

Last year, at some juncture on one of our two blogs, we said that essentially the differences between political liberals and right-wingers here in the USA was a rather simple one. Liberal Democrats are more likely to listen to Gogol Bordello, a Russian-emigre punk band (well, at least those who are younger than 45), and conservative Republicans were more likely to find humor in the dated Cold War humor of Russian-emigre comedian Yakov Smirnoff.

As many folks may already know (well, we mentioned this before), Smirnoff regularly performs shows in Branson, Missouri, which has become a mecca for country music fans, perhaps even ones from as far away as Kiev, Ukraine.

As it turns out, Smirnoff will actually be performing on the road as well in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Oct. 15th.

On that same night, the historic Preservation Hall Jazz Band will be performing at Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois. But, normally the band plays in their hometown of New Orleans, La., otherwise known as NOLA.

We also checked to see where Gogol Bordello was performing on that night, but their next concert date is not until Nov. 3rd when they will hit the proverbial stage in Burlington, Vt.

Alas, Branson, Missouri, is also where the late country-singing legend Conway Twitty gave his very last performance. But, a tribute band called Twitty Fever Band will be performing at the Oley Fire Company Apple Festival in Oley, Pa., on Oct. 8 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

So, we are looking at the distances between New Orleans, which is a haven for jazz fans, and Branson, Missouri, and the answer is:

A) 9 hours even

B) 10 hours even

C) 11 hours even

D) 12 hours even

We've got a Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits eight-track tape for the winner (that's a joke, folks!).

Things We Learned on Google Today- IFK Goteborg Lost to Another Swedish Soccer Team

NOTE: Normally, in this slot, we have our series dedicated to the 15 former republics of the Soviet Union. But, we thought it would be keen and neat to switch the entries around today with our other blog "The Daily Vampire"..........ok, we did sort of mess up and hence Javier the Intern has once again been fired.


Steven Levy, a writer for "Wired" magazine, has a new book called "In the Plex" which is about how Google shapes our minds and the ways we think. All of which has made me think that perhaps we should change the name of this series to "Things We Learned on Bing Today."

At any rate, we had high hopes that our feature soccer team of the week, IFK Goteborg, a Swedish powerhouse which has won 18 national championship titles, five national cup titles and two UEFA cups, would come through for us as they face Mjallby AIF, a Swedish soccer team in the southern Swedish fishing town of Mjallo, but alas they choked. Hence, the final result was Mjallby AIF 1 IFK Goteborg 0. The winning goal was scored by David Lofquist, 25, for Mjallby.

But, there are supposedly some good players for IFK Goeborg, including Stefan Sleakovic, 34, a Swedish national player who has been a star for the team, and IFK's captain Adam Johansson, 28, a fellow Swede.

Goteborg or Gothenburg is Sweden's second largest city as it ranks between Stockholm and Malmo.

SIDEBAR: In the "Gosh, We Didn't Get To It" department, we were hoping to rib Cong. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) as he is ironically a good friend to me personally, though I'm not sure if he shares that opinion of my blog. He is from my hometown of Salem, Va., and he represents the ninth district of Virginia from western Salem to Bristol, Va.

Apparently, Griffith, who should not be confused with an attractive young woman from Georgia on Twitter who shares his name (yes, this is actually true), addressed the need for deregulation so southwest Virginia could get more jobs in response to President Barack Obama's speech, yesterday.

We were going to say these minimum-wage jobs might well pollute the air and water, and they would be probably be shipped out to El Slavador or China so some Cuban cigar-chomping mine boss could cut living wages, but out of respect for Griffith and our time contraints, we are going to avoid making such a satiric claim which could easily be misinterpreted.

And, to actually be fair and balanced, we should add that we have yet to read what Cong. Griffith actually had to say as of 5:00 p.m., New Haven, Conn., time.

PS: The country we are featuring today in our series which will be on "The Daily Vampire" wil be Lithuania. If it wasn't obvious, Javier the Intern does not really exist!

Greensboro vs Roanoke- Battle of the Fleas

We wrap our series of entries on which city is 'better,' my hometown of Roanoke, Va., or my adopted city of Greensboro, NC, two cities which are divided by a 100-mile stretch of Route 220 (aka the Moonshine Highway) up with a look at flea markets.

In Roanoke, there is Happy's Flea Market, a landmark, cultural icon on Williamson Road, where one can find very unique items ranging from Partridge Family records on vinyl (yes, I actually purchased some of these for like $1.50 as a gag gift) to up-scale kitsch like velvet paintings of a Native American.

In Greensboro, there is the Big Flea Market, which is not open every single day like Happy's (well, they maybe closed for Christmas), but rather it comes up some eight to ten times a year. The event will be held next weekend at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Since both places are flea markets, they sell many similar items, but Greensboro might be the better place to find an antique clock or a red state weapon of choice (forgive the political humor). I suppose an antique clock could be a weapon too, actually.

So, which one would I choose? As the late left-wing philosopher Howard Zinn, who was actually more liberal than I am, once said: "No one can stay neutral in the path of a runaway train."

With that in mind, I will choose Big Flea as I have a thing for antique clocks even though I personally can't afford them!