Quote of the Day- Charlton Heston

Today, we quote the late actor Charlton Heston (1923-2008), as we continue quoting actors who played real-life presidents. Heston had the distinction of playing three presidents: One as Andrew Jackson, the seventh American president, in the feature film "The Buccaneer" * (1959, dir: Anthony Quinn) and he played Thomas Jefferson in the tv movie "The Patriots" and later in life he played Abraham Lincoln in the tv mini-series "The Great Battles of the Civil War."

Today, on our other blog, we have a quote from Nick Nolte who played Jefferson in the 1995 film "Jefferson in Paris." 

The following quote is a bit ironic in that Heston was not only one of the few Republicans in Hollywood, he also became a right-wing icon when he headed the controversial, but powerful gun lobbying group The National Rifle Organization (NRA). Here is indeed referring to a president who was a Democrat:

"Jackson was one of my favorite presidents. One mean son of a bitch."

*-Heston actually plays a young Gen. Andrew Jackson in the film

SIDEBAR: In sports, we mentioned the Durham Bulls, a popular minor league baseball team in Durham, NC, a few nights ago. Well, as it turns out, they did finish their series against the Rochester Red Wings in spite of their home game being rained out on Saturday. On Monday night, the Bulls beat the Red Wings 4-0 as shortstop Tim Beckham and outfielder Jose Feliciano hit a pair of doubles in a game which saw a much-heralded Australian prospect Liam Hendricks (7-1) taking the mound for the visitors.

http://www.charltonhestonworld.homestead.com

http://www.twitter.com/durhambulls

Things We Learned on the Internet Tonight_ What is an Axehole??

We learned tonight from The Urban Dictionary that an axehole is: A person who uses an obscene amount of Axe body spray.

Here were some things we found out through Twitter, apparently folks in the urban parts of North Carolina are dealing with major rainstorms:

@WXII (tv station in Winston-Salem, NC): Several thunderstorms warning for Davidson and Randolph County in NC until 9:15 p.m.

@DurhamBulls (minor league team in Durham, NC, image of mascot in the middle): "Thanks to everyone who's sticking with us through this delay. Tarp still on field, but we expect to play!

@WVUgymnastics: "Morgantown Magazine is thrilled that Morgantown tops Forbes list of Best Small Cities! (Morgantown, West Virginia, is where West Virginia University is).

@SunDC (this will be helpful for Muslims in the DC-area celebrating Ramadan, which makes me wonder what my late Turkish father would make of me eating turkey bacon; since we couldn't find a Washington, DC, sunset, we settled with an image of nearby Annapolis, Maryland): "Sunset 8:29 p.m. Sunset tommorow 8:26 p.m."

@VisitMaine: "Tomorrow, Sunday, July 22 is the last day of the Yarmouth Clam Festival! Don't miss it."

@TVGMDebra: "Martha Stewart on whether she's ever had fast food: I've eaten one Burger King, two McDonald's & today I ate an In-and-Out-Burger."

http://www.urbandictionary.com

http://www.marthastewart.com

http://www.visitmaine.com

http://www.mdisfun.org

http://www.twitter.com/DurhamBulls

http://www.wvusports.com

http://www.muslimmatters.org

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

Virtual Postcard from Washington DC_ The National Zoo

Since we just got back from Washington, DC, we thought we'd share a Virtual Postcard with you of the National Zoo, even though we did not go to the esteemed zoo; in fact, we've never been there?!

To make this fun for you (thanks for those of you who are reading this in Bulgaria, we walked past your embassy), and quick for me, we thought we'd do a DC By the Numbers entry. We think most of these numbers are at least fairly accurate.

In addition, we threw in figures from some silly things we noticed, like the number of women wearing unseasonable shoes (one was even in flip flops?!), but we did not count the joggers or dog walkers, though a part of me wishes we had.

Here we go:

310- Number of miles between Politcs and Prose, an independant bookstore in Washington, DC, on Connecticut Avenue and The Regulator, an indy book outlet in Durham, NC.

61- Number of people we saw riding bicycles, motorcycles or vespas!

32- Number of museums in Washington, DC, this includes the National Zoo, the National Cathedral and Ford's Theatre

31_ Number of women wearing unseasonable shoes. In addition to the woman in flip flops, there was another woman in sandals.

27- Ah, yes, the annoying cute young couples, one can see them everywhere in DC. One couple who smooched as we were approaching Farragut North on the Red Line really took the cake. The girl looked like a fashion model, the guy looked like a chemistry lab geek. Go figure!

13_ Number of players on the Georgetown Hoyas' men's basketball roster.

10_ Number of Starbucks in Washington, DC, alone

7_Number of Starbucks in the DC suburb of Fairfax, Va.

5-Number of Starbucks in another DC 'burb of Bethesda, Md.

3- Number of animal shelters in DC, according to the search engine we used (ok, so it was Google). We certainly hope Helga, a gorgeous, spayed female black cat who is 5 years and two months old, finds a home soon. It has been reported that many pets, like people, are now homeless in DC. Go to warl.org to find out more Helga and other cats and dogs in the city.

2- The number of hours I expect to actually sleep tonight.

Casualties of Modern Technology- Newspapers (2 of 12)

Since I was once a newspaper reporter, declaring my old profession to be a 'casualty of modern technology' may not go over well, but it has been a full decade since I was covering Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors meetings in Woodstock, Va.

According to Wikipedia, there were 6,580 newspapers in the world which sold 395 million copies a day. But, a steep decline has occured since then. As Gene Weingarten, a humor columnist from "The Washington Post" stated a few years ago (this is a paraphrase): 'how can you exist as a business when you give away your product for free on the Internet?'

And, many newspapers across the United States have been hit hard, including "The Herald-Sun" in Durham, NC. The daily newspaper owned by the Paxton Group in Paducah, Ky., had over 50,000 daily subcribers in 2003. As of 2010, it has just over 25,000. As a result, the newspaper fired 81 of its 350 employeees, including prize-winning cartoonist John Cole, in 2008. There have been even more layoffs at the newspaper since then.

The newspaper traditionally consists of features, such as comic strips, classified ads, advice columns, obituaries, recipes, horoscopes and editorial cartoons.

But, newspapers have not lost their value when it comes to informing the public, especially on local issues. This is particularly true today, which is Election Day here in the United States.

Both "The News and Record" in Greensboro, NC, and its alt weekly competitor "Yes Weekly!" will have major stories tomorrow regarding the outcome of a highly contested local mayoral race between the incumbent Republican mayor of Greensboro Bill Knight and his challenger Robbie Perkins, a candidate endorsed by "Yes Weekly!."

According to the PRI show "The World," a radio program that airs on many NPR stations in America, Chinese-language newspapers, including the Hong Kong-based "Sing Tao Daily," are playing a vital role in the likely election of Ed Lee, who would become the first person of Chinese heritage to become the mayor of San Francisco.

But, as to the future of newspapers, that is an open question. In fact, as I was typing this, someone was asking if this household would be interested in getting the local paper in the zip code I am presently at (it was not "The News and Record" or "The Herald Sun).

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Syria is Still a Mess

The following disturbing tweet came from "The New Yorker" this afternoon:



"Reports from inside Syria: "There was nothing but shooting and sound of explosion, no water, no electricity."



Turkey, my late father's country, has brought in 8,500 refugees from Syria so far. Many of the refugees are staying at a camp in Boynuegin in the Hatay province. I was not aware that actress/humanitarian activist Angelina Jolie had visisted the camps back on June 17.



The image above is a mosque in Aleppo, Syria, the country's second largest city.



SIDEBAR: I just finished reading comic writer Jane Borden's debut memoir "I Tottally Meant To Do That," which I got from the Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC. The book is about Borden's transition as she relocated from Greensboro, NC, to New York. In an interview with "The New York Daily News," Borden said: "Moving to New York City is an adjustment for anyone. But it's particularly a tough transition when you come from the South."

Quote from The Composers_ J.S. Bach

Yes, we do have an odd sense of humor, hence we are posting an image of a '70s disco ball with our entry with a quip from the great Baroque period German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).

Bach has been more in the news lately as New York musician Simone Dinnerstein (daughter of painter Simon Dinnerstein) has just released "Bach: A Strange Beauty" which is the combination of two keyboard concertos to Bach. The recording and Dinnerstein's album were recently featured on NPR.

Dinnerstein will be performing close to home at Duke University in Durham, NC, with Tift Merrit on Jan. 21 and 22.

Among Bach's great works are "The Brandenberg Concerts," "The Goldberg Variations," "The St. Matthew Passion" and "The St. John Passion."

Here is the quote from Bach, which I personally adore:

"If I decide to be an idiot, I'll be an idiot on my own accord."