Cuneyt Arkin vs. Chuck Norris (1 of 4)_ The Best Actor of 1979 Was....

We had intended to start this series on Friday, but we fell asleep at the Richmond Public Library in Richmond, Va., (yes, this is a joke).

But, since Chuck Norris is always trending well thanks in part to his very radical far-right political comments. such as a recent one stating that if President Barack Obama is re-elected, we shall have 'a thousand years of darkness.'

We are also featuring this series with Cuneyt Arkin, the Turkish matinee idol who turned 75 on Friday, who could be called 'the Turkish Chuck Norris," given that he has been in many action films with right-wing themes.

For this series, we are going to ask who won an Oscar during a given year that Norris made a film. We start off with 1979 when Norris made "A Force of One," which was one of the early hits for the now-72-year-old 'actor.'

Earlier this year, we were able to attend a Chuck Norris birthday bash at the Shadowbox Microcinema in Roanoke, Va.

Which actor won a Best Actor Oscar in 1979; was it?:

A) Dustin Hoffman

B) Jon Voight

C) Peter Sellers

D) Jack Lemmon

E) Al Pacino

http://www.chucknorris.com

http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com

http://www.theshadowboxcinema.com

http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org

http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com (for entry on Cuneyt Arkin)

Entry Based on Trending Topics_ DNC vs. NFL

Tonight sports and politics collided over American airwaves as a landmark speech by former president Bill Clinton may have gone unseen due to the fact that the New York Giants were hosting the Dallas Cowboys in a game aired on NBC; the Cowboys won 24-17 (but, we watched the Democratic National Convention where Clinton spoke from).

So, here is composition made up with trending topics and other recent social media network phenoms as well as other speakers and politicians who were in Charlotte, NC, for the DNC: Lady Gaga tour, Scarlett Johansson. Natalie Portman, Burger King, Andy Roddick, McKayla Maroney (pictured center), Tim Kaine (pictured top), Julian Castro, Sandra Fluke and Sen. Al Franken_

"It was announced today that the Lady Gaga North American tour would begin in Vancouver, Canada, on Jan.11 when the American presidential election will presumably be over with. Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman will be speaking at the Democratic National Convention tomorrow night. Yesterday, both Virginia U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine and San Antonio mayor Julian Castro spoke to the same crowd, which included Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn). Today, pro-choice activist Sandra Fluke, who was called a slut by fringe right-wing radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, gave a rousing speech about the need to protect women's reproductive rights.

There may have been Internet rumors that Bill Clinton was going to have Whopper at the lone Burger King in Fort Mill, South Carolina, which is 15 miles south of Charlotte, but those were not proven and neither was a net rumor that Olympic gold medalist gymnast was going to endorse Dunkin Donuts.

Andy Roddick, 30,  played his last pro tennis game at the U.S. Open where he fell to Argentinian tennis player Juan de Portro, but he should have made enough wages to purchase a very expensive dog like Big Splash, a dog that is worth $1.5 million (we are not making this up)."

http://www.alfranken.com

http://www.kaineforva.com/home

SIDEBAR: Kudos to South African swimmer Achmet Hasseim, 30, who won bronze for his country at the 2012 London Paralympics in men's swimming (100-meter butterfly relay). Hasseim had lost one of his legs after a shark attack of the coast of South Africa in 2006. Interestingly enough, his nickname is Shark Boy.

And, in the world of Turkish Super League soccer, our two favorite teams GalataSaray (Istanbul) and BursaSpor squared off. GS won the game 3-2 with goals from the likes of Umut Bulut and Burak Yilmaz For BursaSpor, Omer Erdogan scored a late goal for the Crocodiles.

The Last Tweets from Charlotte- Maryland Congresswoman Comes Home to Carolina

Though none of these tweets pertain to former New York governor Mario Cuomo (pictured top; his son Andrew is now in charge in Albany) or to dinosaur skeletons, we thought we would use them because several speakers at the Democratic National Convention, including Virginia U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine, will try to reach the barometer set by Cuomo when he gave a dynamic speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco.

And, the dino-skeleton is because Charlotte boasts a very popular natural science museum called The Discovery Place, located in the heart of downtown in the Queen City.

Here are tweets from about an hour ago (4:00 p.m./16:00 eastern time, or 20:00 GMT) with explanations:

1) @PoliticalTicker (CNN Political Ticker): "Obama expecting to get 'misty' during first lady's speech (tonight)."

2) @wamu885news (WAMU 88.5 News; the Washington DC-based NPR station): "We spoke to Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards this morning  about what she expects from #DNC2012." (Cong. Edwards was born in Yanceyville, NC, which borders Danville, Va., her fourth district includes many DC suburbs in Maryland).

3) @HuffingtonPost (Huffington Post): "Watch Chuck Norris' stern warning about the 1,000 years of darkness' that Obama will bring if re-elected."

4) @ABC11WTVD (WTVD is the ABC-affiliate in Raleigh, NC): "Gov. Bev Perdue seems fired up heading to the #DNC_ telling a fellow Dem: 'Let's kick some asses.'"

5) @UtahDemocrats (Utah Democratic Party): "@VoteScottHowell now speaking with Senator (Harry) Reid at the @LBSDems event." (Scott Howell is a conservative Utah Democrat of the Mormon faith who is challenging long-term incumbent Sen. Orrin Hatch).

6) @TheNation (The Nation, a liberal magazine): "Activists call for the immigration reform Obama promised when he ran for office."

7) @DavidShuster (David Shuster, a tv-journalist with the liberal Current-TV who ironically worked for the conservative network Fox News): "Biggest demonstration today in Charlotte: 3 people urging sinners to 'repent or burn in hell.' Police amused."

http://www.wamu.org

http://www.chucknorris.com

http://www.wfae.org (Charlotte's NPR station)

http://www.wunc.org (Raleigh-Chapel Hill's NPR station)

http://www.utahdemocrats.org

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.nc-politics.com

http://www.discoveryplace.org

Tweets from DNC in Charlotte_ An Empty Chair for bin Laden

Today, we continue logging tweets from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) which officially gets underway tomorrow in Charlotte, NC, but many meet and greet events, including delegation breakfast talks, have started up.

"The Washington Post" is focusing on Gov. Martin O'Malley of Maryland (pictured top) as he is one of the most -coveted speakers at the convention. Former Virginia governor Tim Kaine, who is running for an open U.S. senate seat, will also speak in Charlotte. Just so there is no confusion, O"Malley is not the governor of North Carolina, that distinction belongs to Gov. Beverly Perdue, also a Democrat, who is stepping down this year at the end of her term.

We are also using a coffee cup from the Turkish coffee Kahve Dunyasi (Coffee World) since many progressives have started the Coffee Party in opposition to the far right Tea Party movement, which has actually propelled fringe candidates, such as Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), into congressional representatives!

Here is a look at some of the tweets from last night, from the right, the left and the center:

1) @theobserver (Charlotte Observer): Was that George Clooney jogging down Tryon Street?

2) @DavidCornDC (David Corn, a liberal journalist with "Mother Jones"): Even Clint Eastwood said we were halfway through a comeback! That is, before he began his career as a performance activist.

3) @reason ("Reason" is a libertarian magazine): Charlotte protests already bigger than in Tampa.

4) @KyDems (Kentucky Democratic Party): Ky Democrats starting to arrive in Charlotte. KDP is finishing convention walk through.

5) @ChrisRockoz (We thought this was the real Chris Rock, but it appears to be an impersonator. Nevertheless, it is very amusing): Democrats should have an empty chair for the entire DNC and when someone asks who it belongs to, they can say Osama bin Laden.

6) @StephenFHayes (Stephen F. Hayes, a columnist for the conservative publication "The Weekly Standard"): Advice to all in #Charlotte. Avoid the Orange Cab company. An hour late for pickup. Told four times cab was 'five minutes' away.

7) @BarryHouse (Barry House is a liberal activist in Illinois): I wish just once #Democrats would be as vicious at their convention as #Republicans always are at theirs.


http://www.motherjones.com

http://www.kydemocrat.com

http://www.reason.com

http://www.weeklystandard.com

http://www.ncdp.org

http://www.mddems.org

http://www.charlotteobserver.com

Pre-Convention Tweets from DNC in Charlotte, NC

Tomorrow night, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) gets underway in Charlotte, NC, tomorrow, so we checked out some tweets from earlier in the day, here they are; incidentally Chubby the bear is the mascot of Charlotte Checkers, a minor league hockey team, and Marc Anthony (pictured above) is singing the National Anthem at the DNC:

1) @steelbackbone (Steel Backbone; this is a conservative tweeter): Currently reading Hillary Clinton Not Attending DNC in Charlotte.

2) @andylancaster (Andy Lancaster, Charlotte-based animator): After such a great time at the RNC, it will be hard to be in Charlotte with a convention that I'm not part of.

3) @jgolden (Jenna Golden): Best news ever! There is a Starbucks and Pinkberry at media workplace in Charlotte. I already love it here more than Tampa.

4)@CLTparent.web (Charlotteparent.com): @MichelleObama_ we are helping build wealthier families in #charlotte with Our First Family Challenge.

5) @WeBackJack (Gov. Jack Markell, the Democratic governor of Delaware): Nothing better than arriving and seeing DE flags flying in Charlotte.

6)@TheFix (The Fix/Chris Cillizza, a non-partisan politics reporter for "The Washington Post"): BOOOO! RT (retweet) @miswann: I was born and raised in North Carolina. I'm a BBQ fiend. There IS no good BBQ in CLT. I'm serious.

7) @TomPerriello (Tom Perriello, a former Democratic Virginia Congressman): Great piece at CNN about why women are not buying what Romney and RNC are selling.


http://www.charlottesgotalot.com

http://www.wfae.org

http://www.charlotteobserver.com

http://www.gocheckers.com

http://www.charlotteparent.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/thefix

Virtual Postcard from North Carolina- USS North Carolina

As the Democratic National Convention gets ready to start in Charlotte, NC, we thought we'd offer a Virtual Postcard from North Carolina, which is also where 'our headquarters' are located.

This image is of the U.S.S. North Carolina, which is docked in Wilmington, NC, and is now a tourist attraction. Many feature films have been shot in the Wilmington area, including the 1980s cult classic "Blue Velvet" and the Stephen King film "Maximum Overdrive."

The battleship was built in 1937 and it took part in the Pacific Theatre of Operations in World War II; the Carolina is the most decorated battleship of its era and it has 15 battle stars.

http://www.battleshipnc.com/

20 Things To Do List for September- Read the Sunday Comics

Here is our 20 Things To List for September:

1) Listen to "The Turkish Music Hour" on WUVT (90.7-Blacksburg, Va.; the image above is of Turkish pop diva Sertab Erener)

2) Get the Sunday edition of "The Washington Post" (hence the reason for the "Blondie" image as Sunday papers here in America generally have comic strips in them; "The New York Times" is one of the exceptions).

3) Use LinkedIn more often

4) Wear the Spiderman tie more often

5) Watch "Nature" on PBS

6) See an art exhibit at a museum or gallery

7) Read the novel "The Rum Diary" by the late Hunter S. Thompson

8) Watch the Washington Nationals on tv

9) Call Mike

10) Get an Obama/Biden 2012 bumper sticker

11) Pay bills

12) Take photos

13) Read magazines

14) Watch Japanese movies you ordered from Netflix (hence the reason for the image of the late, great Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune)

15) See if family cat needs to have a check-up at the vet

16) Join local athletic club/gym

17) Drink coffee some place besides Dunkin Donuts

18) Fix/ update resume

19) Go see an art-house film

20) Look into joining an online dating services besides E-Harmony


http://www.wuvt.vt.edu

http://www.washingtonpost.com

http://www.neckties.com

http://www.toshiromifune.org

http://www.pbs/wnet/nature

UPDATE (Sept. 2nd): In amazing coincidence, I learned that a song from Turkish pop singer Sertap Erener was actually played during the "Turkish Music Hour." Alas, I was unable to listen to the show because the Internet was down; it airs from 1:00-2:30 p.m. on Saturdays on WUVT (90.7 FM_Blacksburg, Va.).