Parade of Nations (three of four)_ China-Spain

We continue to list 2012 London Olympics athletes who were flag-bearers for their respective countries on Friday with a look at those participating in sports ranging from men's basketball to women's judo.

Here is the latest list:

China: Yi Jianlian (pictured below, men's basketball)

Finland: Hanna-Maria Seppala (pictured, center, swimming)

Jordan: Nadin Dawani (women's judo)

Kenya: Jason Dunford (pictured above, men's swimming)

Libya: Sofyan el Gidi (men's swimming)

Malaysia: Pandelela Rinong (women's diving)

Russia: Maria Sharapova (tennis)

Spain: Paul Gasol (men's basketball)

Olympic Cities Destination Quiz (5 of 6)- Helsinki-Antwerp

Hey kids, for those of you who are not sitting at a multi-plex in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, watching "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises," we offer you free entertainment and a geography lesson as we look at the distance between Antwerp, Belgium, which hosted the Olympics way back in 1920, and Helsinki, Finland, which did the honors in 1952.

A mere 29 countries competed in Belgium, but among them was American swimmer Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968), whew glad, we double-checked the spelling!, who won gold. He would later become an actor and an icon in his native Hawaii.

In Antwerp, Italian fencer Nedo Nadi (1894-1940) won a record five gold medals in his sport.

As for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, which had 69 countries participating, Soviet/Ukrainian gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya (1921-2001) who might have the longest surname in Olympics history won an all-around gold medal in women's gymnastics and six medals overall. In 1990, she emigrated to Israel.

So, we are asking just how far apart these two European Olympics cities are from one another; is the answer:

A) 1,061 miles

B) 1,265 miles

C) 1,333 miles

D) 1,409 miles

Note: The above images are of the iconic Belgian comic book hero Tintin and his dog Snowy, and a member of the very unique Finnish band the Leningrad Cowboys.

Since Monday was National Children's Day in Turkey, the country of my late father Mehmet Gokbudak, we thought we'd feature this image of a Turkish girl that we believe was taken at a large holiday festival in the resort town of Kusadasi.

During the last year when I lived in Turkey (we resided in Zonguldak province in the western Black Sea from 1977-79) Turkish Radio Television, also known as the TRT, started an international children's festival with delegations from other countries around the world.

This year, the participating countries included Egypt, Finland and South Korea.

Here in the United States, individual Turkish-American organizations, such as ATA-NC in Cary (Raleigh), NC, hold local events in honor of Children's Day.http://www.ata-nc.org

While researching this piece, we discovered that the most-celebrated Children's Day is actually on June 1st. It is celebrated in many former Soviet republics, including Armenia, Azerbaijan and (of course) Russia as well as former communist country, including Turkey's neighbor Bulgaria.

Quote of the Day/Week- Leonard Cohen

Today, we are thinking 'outside the box' for our quote in honor of National Poetry Month. We are taking a broader definition of the word poet. Though Canadian singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, 77, is best known for penning and singing brilliant songs like "Hallejuah" (1984), which was immortalized by the late Jeff Buckley in 1994, he has also written extensive poetry.

His most recent record "Old Ideas" has become a smash-selling work in many country, including here in America where it reached #3 on the Billboard chart, it actually went to number one in Finland.

Cohen has inspired the likes of U2 and Lou Reed, and his songs first appeared in films in the early 1970s when several were included in Robert Altman's western "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" (1971).

Here is Cohen's quote:

"I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin."

Silly Picture to Fill Space- The Green Pigs of Angry Birds

Since we are heading back to Coco Cay in The Bahamas for a second time this year (that is a joke), we thought we'd leave you with this image of the notorious pigs from Angry Birds, which I'm told is even popular in Turkey, where one might expect that the pigs would cause a problem.

Everyone should be warned that the game is very, very addictive, even more so than Starbucks coffee!

I was surprised to learn that Angry Birds was created in Finland, given the Kamikaze elements of the video game, I thought it was assuredly something Made in Japan.

For those who enjoy eating barbecue who might be in the Richmond, Va., area, Google recommends ExBilly's BarBQ which has a web site (extrabillys.com) and their phone number is (804) 282-3949.

Casulaties of Modern Technology (6 of 12)_ The Calculator

Greetings to all our blog readers in Turku, Finland, and Kobe, Japan, or whereever else you might be today.

By happenstance, I came across the Little Professor* calculator I used in the third grade in 1979; alas, it no longer seems to function.

And, though calculators are still used to a varying degree, it seems safe to assume that they are indeed a Casualty of Modern Technology.

The modern calculators that were used to assist with basic math were first developed in the 1960s. Pocket-sized calculators came about a decade later in the 1970s. And, it was around the disco era, when calculators became both small and affordable for everyone, including elementary school students.

This, in turn, created a debate about whether calculators should be used in the classroom or not. Many math teachers feared that the calculator would diminsh student math skills. But, while the matter became more controversial in Europe, American school teachers gradually seemed to accept the likes of the Little Professor in the classroom.

As they evolved, calculators were also able to perform more advanced technigues, such as trigonometry and stats.

In 1986, according to Wikipedia, the calculator accounted for 41 percent of all general purpose hardware. But, by 2007, calculators accounted for less than 0.005 percent of general purpose hardware.

*-Whoops, we initially incorrectly referred to the Little Professor calculators as Mister Professor calculators!

Quote of the Week- Aki Kaurismaki

We conclude our quotes from famous Scandanavians this month, with a quip from the great Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki. He is featured in the current issue of "Film Comment," where he discusses his latest film "Le Havre," which happens to be in French!

Aki's most acclaimed film to date in American film circles has been "The Man Without a Past" (2002).

Here is his quote:

"Cinema is dead. It died in 1962. I think it was October."

For the record, he was five years old in 1962.

What We Are Working On.....

Since a lot has happened in the world since I last blogged on Thursday and I am now done looking at emails from L.L. Bean (apologies to the Maine-based company, but nice white shorts are not my priority right now!), I will give you the reader a glance of what to expect on this blog this week.

1. Since May 1st is a day associated with radical socialists, we will start quoting famous people from the far-left starting on Tuesdays this month. Though I'm not one myself, I love agitating Republicans, well except my good friends attorney Johann Hallbjorn in Bethesda, Maryland (the Icelandic name is a fake name, and Johann doesn't live in the DC Metro area), and journalist Aarne Eerikainen in Knoxville, Tenn.,(the Finnish name is also a fake name as well and Aarne doesn't have anything to do with the Volunteer State---that we are aware of).

2. On Wednesday, we will have a quote from a famous novelist. Perhaps, you've already read his book on Kindle?! Other quips from other authors will follow on Wednesdays in May.

3. On Thursday, we are planning to actually write a serious entry (?!) on how I came close to being at the scene of a terrorist bombing, not involving the now deceased eshol eshek (Turkish word for son of a donkey; it is a high insult there) Osama bin Laden, on strangely enough Sept. 10, 2001, in Istanbul, Turkey. The blast, which was a suicide bombing, killed two Istanbul police officers whom I had physically seen some 20 minutes prior to their untimely deaths. The bombing also killed an Australian tourist named Amanda Rigg, who was only 22.

Rigg's story was the feature of a 2007 "Sydney Morning Herald" I found on the web. Her death unfortunately became a bureaucratic nightmare for her family in Australia as the government would not let them recieve monetary compensation for her death as they had with terrorism victims in more universally recognized incidents, such as the bombing at a resort on the island of Bali in Indonesia. My interest in writing about my own experience again is due to the death of bin Laden, and the impact that terrorism leaves on all of us, irregardless of how large or small such incidents are in scale.

4) On a lighter note, this Friday, we hope to officially start a new series called "Things We Learned on Google Today." It will begin with a look at a country that was a republic in the former Soviet Union. We may not start with Kyrgystan since it was the only country from the old USSR that I could not name on a mentalfloss.com quiz! I did manage to get the other 12 right though.

Incidentally, we've included The Smurfs and their villain Gargamel here because they have been invading my dreams lately. We learned about them in research for this entry, but alas due to time constraints, we will share those unique little things some other time!

Quote from The Composers- Edvard Grieg

Since we really like kitsch and all things Scandanavian (though I've never been to Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden or Finland), we thought we'd quip the great Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) for our entry in the series today.

Grieg is known piano miniatures "Lyric Pieces" and his piano concertos in A-minor; he was born in Bergen. The composer also drew inspiration from Norwegian folk music.

Earlier today, we learned that Norway is NOT one of the 27 European Union member nations (neither is Iceland) from our friends at "Mental Floss" (actually, we don't know a single person who works for that ultra-hip magazine, based in Birmingham, Alabama- of all places). I was able to name every member state except one: Cyprus. The irony here is quite well ironic because I have been to Cyprus (well, the northern Turkish part) and Greece and Turkey, the country of my late father, fought over the island nation in a short, but bloody war in 1974.

Getting back to Grieg, whose music is of course more relevant than silly ethnic squabbles (note to my friends in Athens: our yogurt is better than your yogurt!), here is a quip from the Norwegian master who perhaps just couldn't stand Swedes:

"Suddenly a mist fell from my eyes and I knew the way I had to take."

SIDEBAR: For those interested in classic music who live in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Utah Symphony will be conducting Stravinsky's Pulcinetta from Jan. 27-29, which we perhaps should have mentioned yesterday when we were quoting Russian composers!

DC Diary- No Need for a Taxi Tonight

Since I managed to seriously lost and meander around aimlessly through Northwest DC on Wednesday night, my family who was eagerly awaiting my impending arrival on Thursday night (day four of our excursion) was delighted to see me arrive at our home away from home at 10:04 p.m. that evening.

If things had gone exactly according to my sincerest desires, I would've been dancing at the Gogol Bordello concert that night at the 9:30 Club. But, the show was sold out, and assuredly if I had gone, I would have not come back to the temporary residency until circa 2:00 a.m.

So, I opted to see the Finnish film "Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale," which is about how an archaeological expedition to Antarctica yields the discovery of a Santa Claus who has been frozen stiff for eons.

When I first heard about the film, I thought it might be a bit of a subversive take on Christmas, which I would not have objected to (I am a Festivus kind of a guy). But, in actuality, it is merely a quirky comedy that is perhaps just slightly more "A Christmas Story" than "Bad Santa" though the distinctive Scandinavian sense of humor which one can see in films like "The Kitchen Stories" (Norway) and "Together" (Sweden) would probably be lost on most American audiences.

So, as it was, since I got home in time, there was no need for the friendly Indian or Pakistani taxi driver who had bailed me out the night before!

SIDEBAR: We love this tweet from comic book artist/cartoonist Chris Eliopoulos, who is always a hoot: "My wife made lobster mac and cheese ensuring that I will die of a heart attack b4 I'm 50."

Top 10 Favorite Christmas Movies_ A Controversial Choice

Yes, we are choosing the eight-minute $700 short film "The Spirit of Christmas" from 1995 by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, two Colorado college students who went on to make "South Park" as our top choice.

The film is known for it is essentially a mock kung fu fight between Jesus and Santa Claus which is laced with profanity, and makes fun of former Olympic ice skater Brian Boitano.

But, this short film which I saw as part of "Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation Festival" at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., still stands out as one of the most hysterical things I've ever seen. Ironically, I haven't watched "South Park" hardly at all since it's second season. I am amazed it is somehow still on the air (we need to get Javier, our Honduran intern to fact-check that).

Here is our top ten; the rest of the films are full-length features:

1. "The Spirit of Christmas" (1995)

2. "A Christmas Story" (1983)

3. "National Lampoon's Christmas" (1989)

4. "Gremlins" (1984)_ A film I chose to show for my 40th birthday celebration earlier this year at the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va. Many people forget that it takes place at Christmas time.

5. "Bad Santa" (2003)

6. "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946)_ A film which may be the only Christmas film they show in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

7. "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992)

8. "Scrooged" (1988)

9. "Miracle on 34th Street" (1946)

10. "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" (1964)_ Yes, the movie itself which features a very young Pia Zadora does actually suck, but the title is still vintage!

We should mention that John Waters has said that his favorite Christmas movie is "Christmas Evil," also known as "You Better Watch Out." The 1981 horror film predates the much more known and decidedly infamous 1984 slasher flick "Silent Night, Deadly Night" which features a Santa Claus who goes around killing folks.

Currently, American audiences are intrigued by the film "Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale" out of Finland which depicts a Santa Claus who is found frozen in the Arctic Circle. It is currently showing at the following cinemas (not listing every cinema where it's playing, but the film is not showing everywhere): Carousel Luxury Cinemas in Greensboro, NC, Landmark E Street Cinemas in Washington DC, Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, Mass. and lastly, Lyric Cinema Cafe in Fort Collins, Colo.