We are dealing with an interesting issue

(Hello bunkies - woke up this morning to an unexpected legal issue with this blog. We will contine to post as long as we are able.)

The Merrie Melodies short, At Your Service Madame, directed by Friz Freleng, was released on this date.



Although they're seated at a conventional dining table, the pig family is daintily eating from troughs.


August 29, 1953 -
Warner Brothers introduced Speedy Gonzalez in the cartoon Cat-Tails for Two on this date.



While this is the first cartoon featuring the character Speedy Gonzales, his depiction here is vastly different from the character he would later become. It wasn't until his second appearance, Speedy Gonzales (two years later,) that he was re-designed as the character we know him as today.


August 29, 1959 -
The Looney Tunes short, Here Today, Gone Tamale, directed by Friz Freleng and starring Speedy Gonzalez and Sylvester the Cat, was released on this date.



The guillotine gag is recycled from Stork Naked; both cartoons were directed by Friz Freleng.


August 29, 1962 -
The United Artists remake of the 1937 boxing film, Kid Galahad, this time starring Elvis and co-starring Lola Albright, Gig Young, Charles Bronson, and Ed Asner (in his first screen appearance,) went into general release on this date.



Dolores Fuller who wrote the song I Got Lucky for Elvis had been the girlfriend of Edward D. Wood Jr. a decade earlier and had acted in several of his productions. She wrote songs for several Elvis movies.


August 29, 1964 -
Roy Orbison’s single, (Oh,) Pretty Woman, was released on this date.



Orbison and his wife Claudette had recently reconciled after some tough times, but as this song was climbing the charts, Roy found out she had been cheating on him and filed for divorce. In 1966, they remarried, but two months later Claudette was killed when the motorcycle she was riding was hit by a truck. Orbison faced tragedy again when his two oldest sons died in a fire at his home in 1968. He was on tour at the time.


August 29, 1964 -
Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins opened in general release on this date. This is first movie I ever saw (but not on this date.)





Walt Disney cast Julie Andrews for the lead after seeing her in Camelot on Broadway. When she mentioned she was pregnant, he offered to wait until she had her baby to start filming and offered her then-husband, Tony Walton, the job of designing costumes and some sets for this movie. Disney also gave the couple a personally escorted tour of Disneyland and the studio to help them make up their minds. Disney liked Andrews in Camelot so much that after he saw her performance he had the animators of One Hundred and One Dalmatians draw the character of Anita to resemble her.


August 29, 1967 -
ABC's television ratings soared through the roof as David Janssen and Barry Morse starred in the final episode of The Fugitive on this date.



This was the first series to feature a "final episode" in which all the plot lines were resolved, and all questions answered.


August 29, 1981 -
ELO's album, Time, went to No. 1 on the U.K. charts on this date. It was their second album to do so.



There is a backward message on the Time album. Actually, it's on the interlude between Twilight and Yours Truly, 2095, but on the Time CD it's attached to Twilight from [3:22] to [3:36]. It's simply a backwards run verse from 21st Century Man: "Though you ride on the wheels of tomorrow, you still wander the fields of your sorrow". This trick is repeated at the end of 21st Century Man, just before Hold On Tight.


August 29, 1986 -
BBC1-TV aired a Paul McCartney special, McCartney for the first time, on this date.



Originally conceived as a long-form promotional piece for the Wings album, Press to Play, the BBC staffer (Richard Skinner) persuades Paul McCartney to talk about much more, including one of the more in-depth interviews about Wings.


August 29, 1986 -
George Harrison's production company, HandMade Films' romantic comedy, Shanghai Surprise, starring newlyweds Madonna and Sean Penn, was released on this date.



Apparently, after principal photography wrapped, executive producer George Harrison allegedly said of the movie's two lead stars Madonna and Sean Penn: "Penn is a pain in the ass . . . [while] she has to realize that you can be a fabulous person and be humble as well".


August 29, 1994 –
The battling Gallagher Brothers, Liam and Noel, released their debut album Definitely Maybe, as Oasis, on this date.



Noel Gallagher started writing the song Live Forever, (which went on to become once of the bands most popular songs,) when he was a roadie for The Inspiral Carpets. It helped convince his brother Liam to let him join his band, Oasis.


Don't forget to tune in to The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today


Today in History:
August 29, 29/30AD (The date is a best guess, and the subject of much debate. Once again, Romans were too busy with their orgies and draining lead-lined wine goblets to accurately document events of the day.)

John the Baptist (cousin of the itinerant carpenter of Nazareth) received a severe haircut from King Herod, because his teenage step-daughter, Salome (the Miley Cyrus of her day,) couldn't keep her shorts on while dancing.



Children are always such a handful.


August 29, 1533 -
Atahualpa, the last Incan Emperor, discovered on this date, that the European exploration of the new world was not going to go well for the indigenous people. Francisco Pizarro, one in a long line of Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Andes, with a bible in one hand and a sword in the other. Atahualpa was quickly captured by the Spanish and held for ransom. After paying an immense ransom for his release (a room, 22 ft by 17 ft by 8 ft high, once filled with gold and twice with silver within two months), Pizarro decided it was better to kill his hostage and keep the random.



Atahualpa was condemned to be burnt at the stake - which was anathematic since the Inca believed that the soul would not be able to go on to the afterlife if the body were burned. Atahualpa offered and paid an additional random to be ritualistically garroted after a proper Christian baptism, which occurred on this date in 1533, (several sites place his death on July 26, 1533 and his burial was on this date, but dead is dead.)


More on Political Philosophy ...
Jean Baptiste Colbert was born on August 29, 1619.

Colbert was the finance minister to King Louis XIV of France. His own Political Philosophy consisted of a big pile of money. This was a very effective politics, and therefore deemed insufficiently philosophical, which is why you tend to hear more about Locke and Hegel.

Another important political philosopher was born this week: John Locke was born on August 29, 1632. Mr. Locke was a political philosopher, and many of his ideas found their way into the American Constitution.



He is best known for his essay concerning human understanding, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which remains famous to this day as the shortest essay ever written.


August 29, 1896 -
Here is one of those bright dividing lines: if you know what Chop Suey is - you're old. If you've tasted Chop Suey - you're really old.



The Chinese-American dish Chop Suey was invented in New York City by the chef to visiting Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-chang on this date.


August 29, 1915 -
Ingrid Bergman, the Swedish three-time Academy Award, two-time Emmy Award, and Tony Award - winner was born (and died in 1982) on this date.



Many of her shorter male co-stars, such as Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains, had to wear lifts to avoid looking small next to her 5' 10" stature.


August 29, 1920 -
Charles Christopher "Bird" Parker, jazz saxophonist and composer was born on this date.



Along with trumpet legend Dizzy Gillespie, he created the sporadic rhythms known as "be bop" in the 1950s.


August 29, 1949 -
The Soviet Union joined the nuclear club on this date when they detonated a nuclear weapon, code-named First Lightning (Pervaya Molniya) at a test site in Kazakhstan. American experts were shocked and dismayed because they had thought the Soviets were still years away from having a workable bomb.



The resultant fear helped trigger an arms race that would see the Americans and Soviets stockpile approximately 32,000 and 45,000 nuclear devices.


August 29, 1958 -
Michael Joseph Jackson, the self-crowned King of Pop was born on this date.



He has achieved the dubious distinction of being in the number one position on Forbes magazine's list of "Top-Earning Dead Celebrities", six years in a row.

Last year was not bad for the King of Pop's income, Jackson's posthumous earnings were $115 million dollars. His large wealth is partly due to the Broadway musical MJ: The Musical, which brought in $85 million in the past 12 months. Elvis Presley, Jackson's former father-in-law, was the second biggest earner on the list, earning $100 million.


August 29, 1966 -
The Beatles performed their last concert before paying fans at in San Francisco's Candlestick Park on this date.



The performance marked the end of a four-year period dominated by touring and concerts including nearly 60 U.S. appearances and over 1400 internationally.


August 29, 1991 -
After a vote in the Soviet Union's parliament, the Supreme Soviet dissolved the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on this date.

The move brought an end to one of the world's largest communist governments.


August 29, 2005 -
Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. The death toll eventually reached at least 1,600. An estimated 300 Louisiana residents died out of state; some 230 people perished in Mississippi. Property damage estimates were in the hundreds of billions of dollars.



The name Katrina was officially retired on April 6, 2006 by the World Meteorological Organization at the request of the U.S. government. The name will never again be used for another North Atlantic hurricane.




And so it goes

Did someone call me Schnorrer?

August 28, 1930 -
... That's a fine letter, Jamison, that's an epic. That's dandy. Now, I want you to make two carbon copies of that letter and throw the original away. And when you get through with that, throw the carbon copies away. Just send a stamp, airmail, that's all. You may go, Jamison. I may go too. ...

The Marx Brothers second outing at Paramount, Animal Crackers, opened on this date.



In 1957, Paramount forgot to renew the soundtrack rights which reverted back to the authors of the play. (The studio did renew the picture rights, though.) As a result, the film could not legally be seen in the USA until 1974, when Universal, which had since purchased Paramount's film library, was persuaded by fan requests to re-release it.


August 28, 1937 -
The Looney Tunes short, Get Rich Quick Porky, directed by Bob Clampett and starring Porky Pig, was released on this date.



This is the final theatrical appearance of Gabby Goat.


August 28, 1946 -
Universal's film-noir classic version of Ernest Hemingway's story, The Killers, premiered in NYC on this date.



Burt Lancaster was the third choice for the part of The Swede, and was signed only after actors Wayne Morris and Sonny Tufts proved unavailable. Lancaster was an ex-circus acrobat from Union City, NJ. When producer Mark Hellinger saw the first rushes of Lancaster's performance in a private screening room, he was so pleased that he yelled "So help me, may all my actors be acrobats!"


August 28, 1951 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Cheese Chasers, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Hubie and Bertie, and Claude Cat, was released on this date.



This is the final Hubie and Bertie short


August 28, 1951 -
Paramount's second film version based on Theodore Dreiser's novel, An American Tragedy, A Place in the Sun, opened in NYC on this date.



Although this movie was released in 1951, it was shot in 1949. Paramount Pictures already had released its blockbuster Sunset Blvd. when this movie wrapped. The studio did not want what was sure to be another blockbuster in this movie competing for Oscars with Sunset Blvd., so it waited until 1951 to release this movie. This actually pleased producer and director George Stevens, as he would use the extra time to edit this movie.


August 23, 1954 -
The Looney Tunes short, Yankee Doodle Bugs, directed by Friz Freleng and starring Bugs Bunny, was released on this date.



Bugs has a nephew here, Clyde. In cartoons and films of the time, the censors demanded marriage of a character before there could be children. Having a niece or nephew appear, however, was a clever way to show the main character's parenting skills without requiring matrimony. Popeye and Olive Oyl, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Barney Bear also had such occasional sidekicks.


August 28, 1968 -
Simon & Garfunkel's fourth studio album, Bookends, went to No. 1 on the U.K. Billboard charts on this date.



At the 1969 Grammy ceremony, Simon & Garfunkel won the Record of the Year and Best Contemporary-Pop Performance by a Vocal Duo or Group awards for Mrs. Robinson.


August 28, 1978 -
The pilot episode for the short lived series Flying High, (think The Love Boat in the sky,) starring Kathryn Witt, Connie Sellecca, Pat Klous, and Howard Platt premiered on this date.



Flying High was canceled after 15 epsiodes -the final three episodes never had a chance to air.


August 28, 1978 -
Released by Warner Bros. and produced by Brian Eno, Devo's debut album , Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo was released, on this date.



The album was met with mixed reviews at the time, but today is viewed as one of the most significant albums of the Post-Punk and New Wave genres. In fact, a number of musical luminaries were interested in producing the band's debut, including Iggy Pop and even David Bowie (who at the time described them as "the band of the future").


August 28, 1998 -
Pearl Jam's video for the song Do The Evolution, premiered on MTV on this date.



The video, which is animated by Todd McFarlane, was the first video Pearl Jam released since their Jeremy clip in 1992. The band felt that videos detracted from the music, but also hated the process of making them. Since they didn't appear in this video, it was much easier for them


August 28, 1998 -
The Warner Bros. Frankie Lymon biopic Why Do Fools Fall In Love starring Larenz Tate, Halle Berry and Vivica A. Fox premiered on this date in US theatres.



When Tina Andrews wrote the original script, the part of Frankie Lymon was first offered to Michael Jackson.


August 28, 2001 -
Weezer released Island in the Sun, the second single from Weezer (aka The Green Album) on this date.



This is the most-licensed track in the Weezer catalog. Frontman Rivers Cuomo told Billboard magazine: "The funny thing is, the song wasn't a real radio hit. I can only speculate that it's because the song has a cleaner guitar sound, which makes it easier for a more mainstream audience."


Another unimportant moment in history.


Today in History:
August 28, 476 A.D. -
Today is believed to be the date when the Western Roman Empire, which had lasted for almost 500 years, came to an end as Emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed by a barbarian. (Well, his father, Orestes, the real power behind the throne, was executed on this date - he, Augustulus, relinquished the throne on September 4, 476 and disappeared into obscurity.)

Historians have been theorizing about the causes of the fall of Rome ever since. Edward Gibbon's book The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776) put forward the idea that the Christian Church was to blame. After Christianity became the official religion of the empire, the best and the brightest leaders became leaders of the church rather than leaders of the government or the military. Another theory is that the aqueducts, which carried the water supply, were lined with lead, and so the Romans slowly went crazy. Some geologists believe that the eruption of Mount Vesuvius released so much ash into the air that it ruined Roman agriculture and weakened the empire. One of the more recent theories is that the Roman army had been infiltrated by the barbarians themselves.



But whatever the cause, the fall of Rome actually wasn't the catastrophic event most people think it was. So-called barbarian rulers kept most of the basic laws in place, Latin remained the official language of government, everyone remained Christian and orgies continued but in private.


August 28, 1837 -
Pharmacists John Lea and William Perrins began commercially manufacturing Worcestershire Sauce on this date, based on an Indian recipe brought to them by Lord Marcus Sandys -- an ex-governor of Bengal.



If they told you the recipe (it contains anchovies), they'd have to kill you.


August 28, 1845 -
Scientific American, founded by Rufus M. Porter, was published for the first time as a four-page weekly newspaper, on this date.

It is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States.


August 28, 1883 -
The first controlled flight in a "Gull" glider was made by John J. Montgomery at Wheeler Hill, California.



The craft weight 38 pounds and sailed a distance of 603 feet at an altitude of about fifteen feet at Otay Mesa near San Diego, Ca.


August 28, 1898 -
Pharmacist Caleb Davis Bradham created a beverage, he believed would aid in digestion and boost energy, calling it "Brad's Drink," on this date.



He later renamed it Pepsi-Cola, after "pepsin" and the kola nut used to flavor the drink.

And unfortunately, made with no cocaine.


August 28, 1907 -
Two teenagers, Jim Casey and Claude Ryan decide to start the American Messenger Company in Seattle, on this date. The company's name was later changed to the United Parcel Service.

And finally they are going to put air conditioning in their trucks.


August 28, 1922 -
The first radio commercial aired on WEAF in New York City (WEAF stood for Water, Earth, Air and Fire.)

It was a 10-minute advertisement for the Queensboro Realty Co., which had paid $100.  Programming must have really stunk if people listened to a 10 minute commercial.


August 28, 1938 -
Charlie McCarthy (Edgar Bergen’s wooden partner ) received the first degree given to a ventriloquist’s dummy on this date.

The honorary degree, “Master of Innuendo and Snappy Comeback,” was presented on radio by Ralph Dennis, the dean of the School of Speech at Northwestern University. I wrote my dissertation on, "The illusionary construct of time - it really is 5pm somewhere in the world." And I earned my degree without someone's hand up my ass.


August 28, 1955 –
A 14-year-old  black teenager from Chicago, Emmett Till was brutally murdered in Mississippi, for ‘flirting’ with a white woman, Carolyn Bryant. Eyewitnesses linked Carolyn’s husband Roy Bryant and half-brother J.W. Milam to the murder. Bryant and Milam were indicted soon thereafter. Both were acquitted by an all-white jury. Bryant and Milan later confessed to the killing in a magazine interview.



Before her death in 2017, Carolyn Bryant admitted she lied when she testified in 1955 that Emmett Till touched her.


August 28, 1963 -
During a 200,000-person civil rights rally in at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I have a dream" speech," 61 years ago today.



The speech, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement.



Marian Anderson, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul & Mary and other performer lent their voices to the proceeding that day as well.


August 28, 1964 -
The Beatles met Bob Dylan for the first time at The Delmonico Hotel, following their show at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium, on this date.



After being introduced by a mutual friend, writer Al Aronowitz, the band offered their guests drinks, but Dylan and Aronowitz expressed interest in smoking weed instead. This marked the Fab Four’s first taste of marijuana – an experience that would prove to be transformative in their career.


August 28, 1982 -
Two young people got married on this date.

Happy Anniversary Mary.


August 28, 1996 -
Unfortunately for others, the fairy tale has a very unhappy ending,

The former Prince of Wales Charles, now King, and Diana, Princess of Wales, were divorced on this date.

One year later, almost to the day, Diana would have a very nasty accident in a Paris underpass.



And so it goes

Please clear the lines - an important update coming through

Most American children learned from an early age to look both ways before crossing the street, but how many of them really know how to protect themselves against political assassination?

Not many. And yet, each year, millions of people are killed by assassins.

It’s tragic because these are needless deaths, almost all of which could have been prevented. ACME would like to mention a few simple precautions can help ensure that no assassin’s bullet will ever have your name on it:

A) First, get plenty of exercise, eat plenty of vegetables, and avoid being born into royalty.
B) Don’t be president, prime minister, or other Top Person.
C) Don’t create a military junta or mastermind a coup.
D) Don’t say or write anything that might be considered disparaging by anyone with their own military junta.
E) Do not found a religion.
F) Do not oppose a religion.
G) If your parents are gods, dismember them.
H) If your children are gods, devour them.
I) Excel at nothing.
J) Stay indoors.
K) Always call shotgun when driving with suicide car-bombers.

The more you know


Today is the feast day of St. Monica of Hippo.

The more you know
Monica, who was originally from Honey Badger Bluff and moved to the better neighborhood of Hippo, was known as a virtuous woman. Much to her disappointment, she was also the mother of St. Augustine. She continually encouraged (nagged) her son (the lazy bum) about his debauched ways until she successfully convinced him to convert.

She is the patron saint of all mothers with disappointing children.


August 27, 1935 -
RKO Pictures released the film She, directed by Lansing C. Holden and Irving Pichel and starring Helen Gahagan, Randolph Scott, Helen Mack, and Nigel Bruce in the US, on this date.



For many years this film version was considered lost. This film exists at the present time because Buster Keaton had a copy of the original print stored in his garage, which he gave to film historian Raymond Rohauer for preservation.


August 27, 1938 -
The Merrie Melodies short, A-Lad-In Bagdad, directed by Cal Howard and Cal Dalton, and starring Egghead, was released on this date. This short rarely airs on American television due to Arabic and African stereotypes.



This was the last cartoon that Cal Howard co-directed with Cal Dalton, as he left for Max Fleischer's studio in Miami the same year of the cartoon's release.


August 27, 1938 -
The Looney Tunes short, Wholly Smoke, directed by Frank Tashlin and starring Porky Pig, was released on this date.



This is the final Looney Tunes cartoon that Frank Tashlin directed during his first stint at the studio (and thus his old unit that would later be given to Chuck Jones), as he would shortly depart later in 1938 for Disney and later Screen Gems for five years.


August 27, 1943 -
(An almost forgotten film) Warner Bros. released the Lillian Hellman anti-fascist drama, Watch On The Rhine, starring Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Beulah Bondi, on this date.



This adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play was written by her longtime companion, Dashiell Hammett. Hellman was unable to write the adaptation herself as she was contracted to work on the screenplay for The North Star. She recommended that Hammett be given the assignment as he was very familiar with the material. (Hammett also needed the money.)


August 27, 1947 -
20th Century Fox's classic film-noir, crime-drama, Kiss of Death, directed by Henry Hathaway, and starring Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray, and Richard Widmark, premiered on this date.



When New York mobster Joe Gallo--a vicious killer known as "Crazy Joe"--was starting out as a small-time hoodlum, he saw this movie and instantly idolized Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark). Afterwards, Gallo began wearing his suits with black shirts and white ties in emulation of Udo. He also began acting in a more crazed manner, thus giving rise to his "Crazy Joe" persona, which lasted until the gangster's death in April of 1972, when he was murdered by rival gangsters in Umberto's Clam House in Little Italy.


August 27, 1949 -
The Looney Tunes short, The Windblown Hare, directed by Bob McKimson and starring Bugs Bunny, was released on this date.



The three little pigs from this cartoon would reappear with different voices in The Turn-Tale Wolf, once again as the aggressors, this time picking on another Big Bad Wolf.


August 27, 1953 -
William Wyler, romantic comedy, Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, and Eddie Arnold, premiered in NYC on this date.



Paramount originally wanted to shoot this movie in Hollywood. William Wyler refused, insisting it must be shot on location. They finally agreed, but with a much lower budget. This meant the movie would be in black and white, not the expected Technicolor, and he would need to cast an unknown actress as the Princess, Audrey Hepburn.


August 27, 1955 -
The Looney Tunes short, Hyde and Hare, directed by Friz Freleng and starring Bugs Bunny, was released on this date.



Bugs pays tribute to the piano-playing entertainer Liberace before starting to play Frédéric Chopin's Minute Waltz. Note the candelabra on the piano, a Liberace trademark. He also says (a la Liberace), "I wish my brother George were here". (He really did have a brother named George Liberace.)


August 27, 1966 -
The Beach Boys' single, God Only Knows peaked at No.2 on the UK singles chart. Surprisingly, it only managed to scrape the Top 40 in the United States. That's because it was released as a B-side, partly because of fear that radio stations would refuse to play a song with "God" in the title.







The song broke new ground in many ways. It was one of the first commercial songs to use the word 'God' in its title and Brian Wilson used many unorthodox instruments, including the French horns that are heard in the song's famous introduction.


August 27, 1969 –
An early Francis Ford Coppola film, The Rain People, starring Shirley Knight, James Caan and Robert Duvall premiered on this date.



George Lucas visited the set while finishing film school, having heard that Francis Ford Coppola, a fellow film school graduate, was directing. The two struck up a fast friendship and became frequent collaborators during the 1970s, and again in the 1980s with Tucker: The Man and His Dream.


August 27, 1970 -
The sci-fi musical (no one has ever seen,) Toomorrow, directed by Val Guest, starring newcomer Olivia Newton-John as a pop singer whose band gets abducted by aliens, premiered on this date.



Producer Harry Saltzman hired David Benedictus to write the screenplay, but Saltzman was unhappy with the way it was developing, so he instructed director Val Guest to pen his own script, assuring him that he'd deal with Benedictus. It wasn't until Guest's version was finished that Benedictus caught wind of the situation, at which point he sent Guest an angry letter.


August 27, 1991 -
Epic Records released Pearl Jam' s debut studio album, Ten, on this date.



Up until they were recording the album, Pearl Jam was known as Mookie Blaylock, as in the professional basketball player. Since calling themselves Mookie Blaylock would have possibly led to legal problems, they decided to just pay tribute to the point guard by calling their debut album Ten, his jersey number.


August 27, 2004 -
After 1,190 episodes, Craig Kilborn called it quits as the host of The Late Late Show on CBS TV, on this date.



The Scottish-born American comedian Craig Ferguson took over the show on January 3, 2005.


August 27, 2004 -
Hong Kong martial arts film Hero starring Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Donnie Yen and Chen Daoming, opened in the US on this date, and became the first Chinese-language film to reach #1 at US box office.



The "red fight" between Moon and Flying-Snow was filmed in a forest in Mongolia. Director Yimou Zhang had to wait until the leaves turn yellow, and hired local nomads to gather even more yellow leaves in order to cover the ground completely. In fact, he was so fanatic about the leaves, that he had his crew separate the leaves into four different "classes" which were each put at increasingly farther lengths from the camera.


Another little known Monopoly card.


Today in History:
August 27, 413 BC -
A lunar eclipse interrupted a lovely evening of fraternizing among the sailors of the Athens fleet on this evening, affecting the outcome of a battle in the Peloponnesian War. The Athenians were ready to move their forces from Syracuse when the Moon was eclipsed. The soldiers and sailors were startled by this celestial omen and tenaciously clung to their nude and well-oiled ship mates.



The fleet’s commander, Nicias, gutted a sheep and postpones the fleet’s departure for 27 days. The delay gave an advantage to their enemies, the Syracusans, who went on to defeat the entire Athenian fleet and army, killing Nicias in the process.


August 27, 410 -
In case you were keeping score, the Sack of Rome still continued unabated. The orgies were winding down: lubricants were in short supply and everything that moved had been used. The Visigoths were forced to engage in unnatural acts with statuary.

For those of you with a more genteel nature, I won't tell you how the statuary was used.


Political Philosophy has caused more human death and suffering than any other disease. No inoculations exist. Outbreaks are sudden and almost always fatal. Political Philosophy strikes young and old alike, healthy and sickly, nimble and clumsy, lefty and righty. By the time its symptoms are visible, you have very little time to protect yourself. Popular referendums will only exacerbate the problem.

Emigrate at once.

Case studies: On August 27, 1793, the Committee of Public Safety in Paris, France, accepted its newest member, Maximilien Robespierre.

Robespierre soon rose to prominence on the basis of his Political Philosophy, the Guillotine, which was quicker than Inalienable Rights and more readily understood than Separation of Powers.

On August 27, 1770, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born on this date. Georg's family was so poor that they couldn't afford the second 'e' in his first name. Hegel was also a kind of political philosopher.

He believed in theses and antitheses and that sooner or later everyone ended up in Synthetics. Unfortunately there was no way to test his theory, as this was well before the invention of polyester.


August 27, 1882 -
Schmuel Gelbfisz, (Samuel Goldwyn), glove maker, sales man and pioneer filmmaker was born in Warsaw, Poland on this date.



His sayings, sometimes known as "Goldwynisms," were famous for their unintentional wit, which was partially as a result of his somewhat limited understanding of the English language that surfaced when he tried to comment on certain situations. There are many examples of this, such as "Include me out" or "a verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on."


August 27, 1896 –
The Shortest War in recorded history was the Anglo-Zanzibar War. The conflict lasted between 38 and 45 minutes.



Spoiler alert:



Zanzibar lost.


August 27, 1916 -
Martha Raye, singer, actor, denture wearer was born in Butte, Montana, on this date.



Martha Raye had a lifelong fear of flying, but because of her profession was required to make numerous air trips, which she could muster only after drinking herself into a near alcoholic stupor. Her drinking and conduct during these periods ended up with a number of airlines refusing her service, particularly on her many trips into the Miami, Florida, area, which was a favored vacation spot.


August 27, 1928 -
60 nations agree to sign the Kellogg-Briand Pact on this date. Its signatories renounce aggressive war, and war as an instrument of national policy, but no sanctions are provided for violations.



Most of the diplomats were too embarrassed to admit they thought they thought they were there to taste-test a new breakfast cereal.


August 27, 1952 -
Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman) actor, writer, comedian and public onanist was born on this date.



Reubens credits pioneer TV children's show host Pinky Lee as a partial inspiration for his "Pee-Wee Herman" character. Like Reubens, Lee also wore a tight checked suit and hat as part of his characterization.


August 27, 1955 -
In 1954, two brothers, Norris and Ross McWhirter, who ran a London fact-finding agency were tapped by Sir Hugh Beaver, the managing director of the Guinness Brewery, to create a book to settle bar bets (generate great buzz for the brewery.) Their work - The Guinness Book of World Records was first published on this date.



Guinness World Records has the distinction of being “The best-selling annual publication” in history, with “132,002,542 copies sold from 1955 until October 2013.”


August 27, 1965 –
A small house party occurred at 525 Perugia Way in Bel Air, California, on this date, one that few knew about while it was taking place: the meeting between the four Beatles and Elvis Presley, in Elvis’s home.



The Beatles visit lasted 4 hours during which time they told stories, joked and listened to records. The five of them even had an impromptu jam session – at the time no one thought to record the historical event.

August 27, 1967 -
Brian Epstein, the man who discovered the Beatles and guided them to mega-stardom, died at his London residence, from an overdose of sleeping pills, on this date.



Many critics believe this traumatic event ultimately lead to the Beatles breakup.


August 27, 1979 -
Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India (and matchmaker of his second cousin, the Queen of England to his nephew, our favorite itinerant Greek sailor, the late Philip Mountbatten,) was killed, along with his grandson, off the coast of Ireland in his 29-foot sail boat in Sligo, Ireland; the Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility.



Thomas McMahon was the bombmaker and was jailed at Dublin’s Mountjoy prison. He was released in 1998 as part of the Northern Ireland peace agreement.



And so it goes.