Casualties of Modern Technology (11 of 12)_ Slide Projectors

Back in the 1970s, while other families

were watching "The Love Boat," my late father Mehmet Gokbudak would get out the slide projector and we would watch slide shows featuring images of backyard family trips (we lived in Roanoke, Va) of Highland County and from the two European trips we took. One famous slide was of me posing besides a street sign for Attila Josef Street in Budapest, Hungary, in a Dallas Cowboys hat and jacket. Since Attila is my name, this seemed very cool to my dad. And, I had no idea who Attila Josef was until today (a legendary Hungarian poet who died at age 32 in 1937).

Another famous slide was one of a crocidile at a restaurant in Warsaw, Poland- of all places. The croc was a gift from Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. We have no idea what the croc's name is, but we learned from Google that the croc came to the establishment in 1972. He may well still be the only crocidile in Poland.

As for the slide projector, it was very popular and hip from the 1950s to the 1970s, as it allowed slide prints to be displayed on a screen. But, today, many manufaturers have quit making both the prints and the machines.

http://www.highlandcountyva.org/

The Rabbit Ears Test (6 of 12)_ "Gilligan's Island"

Greetings to everyone defending our freedoms and liberties by warding off those pesky Canadians from Winnipeg, the hometown of filmmaker Guy Maddin, who threaten our borders and our national security.

Hmmm....yeah, making fun of far right eggheads never gets old. Of course, we love Canadians, even the ones who speak French.

Today, we dedicate a blog entry to "Gilligan's Island," (1963-66) the popular cult tv series from Sherwood Schwartz who later brought the world "The Brady Bunch" (subject of our previous entry in this series). We presume that it was broadcast in Canada, though we're not sure if it ever made it to Turkey.

This subject is even more timely since I just recently returned from The Bahamas, where we stopped at Coco Cay, one of these private islands brought by a cruise ship company, which is just like "Gilligan's Island," except the natives want to sell you Bob Marley t-shirts.

Alas, Bob Denver, who played the beloved title character died at age 70 in 2005 in Winston-Salem, NC. For many years, he was residing in Princeton, West Virginia, and no one is exactly sure why.

But, Russell Johnson, who played the Professor, is alive and well somewhere in the United States, well not West Virginia.

Of course, for those of you unfamiliar with the show, it was shown for its catchy theme song, which is now a popular Youtube video.

So, for today's question, we are going to ask how old Johnson is; is the answer:

A) 84 B)85 C)86 D)87

If you are the lucky winner, we will send you a cassette tape with the theme from "The Love Boat"_ just kidding. Amazingly enough, the entire cast of that show (well the original '70s version), including Captain Stubing (Gavin MacLeod), is alive and well.

Status Update_ I Feel Like....

Status Update for 1/28: "For some very strange reason, I sure feel like a cooked goose today."

For many reasons, personal and not-so-personal, this just hasn't been my week. But lots of folks seem to be in a seasonal late January funk these days. Somehow, I don't think going to the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va., to see "Rabbit Hole" with Nicole Kidman (she got an Oscar nomination for her performance in the film) which is reportedly a very depressing film, would help things. But, maybe I can see if there are reruns of "The Love Boat" at my local public library (on second thougt, no that would only make things worse too!).

SIDEBAR: I want to wish the Radford University men's basketball team bonne chance/good luck in their homecoming game with Coastal Carolina University who will be coming into Radford, Va., from the Myrtle Beach, SC area (Conway, SC, to be percise). My alma mater is lead by a Turkish player named Gorkem Sonmez. As a Turkish-American and an alum of RU, I'm very proud of him. Another Turkish player named Tolga Cerrah plays the Highlanders too.