The smell of Pine in the air

Major Gridlock Alert - Gridlock Sam Schwartz has issue the "biggest gridlock alert day of [the] decade," - Avoid, like the H1N1 flu or your neighbor's vacation photos, midtown today!

Thousands will gather at Rockefeller Center in New York City for the 79th Annual Christmas tree lighting ceremonies tonight. Do you really want to be stuck in the middle of potential Darwin Award winners and children who should be forced to play in traffic? So once again, I'm giving native New Yorkers a gentle reminder - watch last year's lighting here.



Somehow, Justin Bieber and the impregnation of a Virgin are involved this year. Exert extreme caution!


November 30, 1971 -
The TV movie Brian's Song, debuted on ABC-TV on this date.



Louis Gossett Jr. was originally cast as Gale Sayers. Just days before shooting began, Gossett tore his Achilles' tendon while working out for the film. The studio execs scrambled, and quickly hired Billy Dee Williams as a replacement. Gossett, depressed over missing his "shot," was promised by producer David L. Wolper the first great role that came along. About six years later, Wolper called Gossett to play "Fiddler" in Roots, the Emmy-winning role that made him a star.


November 30, 1990 -
Rob Reiner's adaptation of Stephen King's thriller, Misery, premiered on this date.



The "guy who went mad in a hotel nearby" is a reference to The Shining, also based on a novel written by Stephen King.


Dear readers, as you rifle through the 'Cabinet' today, we hope that you will find today's posting a useful tool to help you count the blessing in your lives. Those who remain cynical and ungrateful, perhaps you might find cause for gratitude for at least one of the following historical events.

On November 30, 1935, the German government proclaimed a failure to accept the tenets of Nazism as grounds for divorce.



Be grateful you never married a Nazi.


Jonathan Swift was born on November 30, 1667,



and Mark Twain was born exactly 170 years later, in 1835.



Be grateful that not everyone is taking everything so goddamn seriously.


Winston Churchill (one of my favorite American who became British Prime Minister) was also born on November 30, in 1874, in a coat closet of his family home (really).



Be grateful that not everyone was so grateful for Peace In Our Time.


Otherwise, here are some other events that occurred on this date

November 30, 1900 -
Celebrated Irish author and noted sodomite Oscar Wilde, died in Paris of meningitis on this date. Wilde had been charged three times with indecency, specifically "the seduction and corruption of young men." Evidence admitted against him included testimony about fecal stains on his sheets.



Be thankful that we obviously have better cleaning detergents than the French did in 1900.

And remember, "I don't think that Wilde was a homosexual or bisexual, I think he just got carried away at those orgies".


November 30, 1929 -
Dick Clark, the American Bandstander, was born on this date. We heard a rumor about extensive facial plasticizing treatments in the early 1970's. While this rumor remains unverified, we must note that before his unfortunate stroke, the man seemed to no longer age and may not even be human.



Be thankful the few of us are faced with bargaining with Satan for our careers.


November 30, 1936 -
The Crystal Palace, originally built by Sir Joseph Paxton in London's Hyde Park for the 1851 Great Exhibition, burns to the ground on this date.



It was said that over 75,000 people came to watch the blaze, among them Winston Churchill, who said, "This is the end of an age". The glow was visible across eight counties.

Be thankful that you weren't down wind from this one.


November 30, 1954 -
At 1 pm, an 8.5 pound stone meteorite fell from the sky and struck Ann Elizabeth Hodges from Sylacauga, Alabama.

The housewife was seriously bruised but survived, although the meteorite destroyed her radio.

Oh the humanity!


20 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 25 more shopping days until Christmas.



And so it goes

A great chill out song for the day

I heard this last night and fell in love with the tune



Not that Neil's version was shabby in any way.


November 29, 1940 -
I'm very fond of children. Girl children, around eighteen and twenty.

W.C. Fields at his peak, The Bank Dick, premiered on this date.



Near the beginning of the movie, Egbert Sousé is whistling Listen to the Mockingbird as he & Joe the Bartender enter the bar. Joe is played byShemp Howard of the Three Stooges fame, and Listen to the Mockingbird was the Three Stooges' theme music.


November 29, 1945 -
Remarkable for it frank portrayal of alcoholism (for it's day), The Lost Weekend, opened in Los Angeles on this date.



Studio advisers warned Ray Milland that this would be the death of his career. Milland himself was initially reluctant to take the part, as it had been turned down by many other leading actors of the day. However, Paramount was convinced that the only way they could sell such a film was with a matinée idol in the lead. Billy Wilder acquiesced to this only when it became clear that his first choice, José Ferrer, would not land the part.


November 29, 1950 -
Jean Cocteau's beautifully magical, Orphee, opened in the US on this date.



Orphee's obsession with deciphering hidden messages contained in random radio noise is a direct nod to the coded messages that the BBC concealed in their wartime transmissions for the French Resistance.


Today in History:
November 29, 1777 -
José Joaquín Moraga proved that he knew the way to San Jose on this date,



when he established, for Spain, el Pueblo de San Jose de Guadelupe, the first civil settlement in California.


November 29, 1864 -
The Sand Creek Massacre occurred, on this date, when Colorado volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington, in retaliation for an Indian attack on a party of immigrants near Denver, massacred at least 400 Cheyenne and Arapaho noncombatants (mostly children, women, physically- and mentally-challenged, and elders) inside Colorado Territory.



It also generated two Congressional investigations into the actions of Chivington and his men. The House Committee on the Conduct of the War concluded that Chivington had "deliberately planned and executed a foul and dastardly massacre which would have disgraced the varied and savage among those who were the victims of his cruelty."

The American Government has so much to be proud of with their dealings with the Native Americans.


November 29, 1929 -
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd (on a break from his experiments with frozen vegetables) radioed that he'd made the first airplane flight with pilot Floyd Bennett, over the South Pole: "My calculations indicate that we have reached vicinity of South Pole."



After briefly loitering around the Pole, Byrd and his crew headed back to their home base, Little America and more intense testing of frozen zucchini.


November 29, 1951 -
The United States set off the first underground nuclear explosion named "Uncle" at Frenchman Flats in Nevada on this date.



It was a great success, except for the giant spiders, ants, grasshoppers and other insects left in the aftermath.


November 29, 1961 -
The US sends the chimpanzee Enos into space, on the Mercury Atlas 5 capsule from Cape Canaveral.



Enos returns to earth safely but dies less than a year later before he can sign with the William Morris Agency.




November 29, 1986 -
82 year old Archibald Leach, better known as Cary Grant, died on this date.



While rumors of Grant's sexuality had been around for years, consider in perspective the words of US congressman Bob Dornan, spoken on the House floor: "I do not think Cary Grant was a homosexual or bisexual. He just got carried away at those orgies."

I love that quote.


November 29, 2001 -
The "quiet" Beatle George Harrison silenced by cancer on this date.




And on a personal note:
Oh yeah, millions of years ago (or at least more than half a century ago) the earth cooled and formed a hard crust, huge dinosaurs ruled the land and John was there to see it all. Happy Birthday John.

About a decade later, vast plains with wildflowers sprung up and Mary skipped along them all. Happy Birthday Mary.



21 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 26 more shopping days until Christmas.



And so it goes

This year I think I've gotten it right?

It's Cyber Monday, not Cyborg Monday.



Feel free to clog the internet with your wanton e-shopping, otherwise the robots have won.


It's also National French Toast Day



Eat as much French Toast (pan perdu) as you can or the terrorist have won.

Enjoy


November 28, 1943 -
Randall Stuart Newman, singer/songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist was born on this date.



Newman has scored six Disney-Pixar films: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Cars and most recently Toy Story 3.


November 28, 1943 -
Vincente Minnelli's gift to his future wife, Judy Garland, the musical film Meet Me In St. Louis, opened in NYC on this date.



Director Vincente Minnelli worked hard to make the movie as accurate to the times as possible. Not only did its novelist, Sally Benson, give explicit directions as to the decor of her home down to the last detail, but the movie's costume designer took inspiration for many of the movies costumes right out of the Sears & Roebuck, Montgomery Ward and Marshall Fields catalogs from the time period.


November 28, 1962 -
I'm too short to host a late-night talk show. It's like the bar at an amusement-park ride. You have to be six foot two or over.



Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, comedian, television host, and political satirist, was born on this date.


We're going to start in earnest our holiday video countdown very soon - so hang on


Today in History -
Sorry boys and girls but it's not a pleasant day in history today -

November 28, 1942 -
A fire at the sleazy Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, kills 491 people. Flammable artificial palm trees aided the spread of the fire.



The numerous dead were crushed, burnt, and asphyxiated, all within minutes.

There's a lesson here boys and girl - sleazy nightclubs kill!!!


November 28, 1953 - Frank Olson, government scientist, jumps to his death from the Statler Hotel in New York City.

In 1975 it is revealed that Olson had been administered LSD by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb in a CIA experiment.

Only bad CIA agents kill!!!


November 28, 1981 -
A drunken Natalie Wood topples off her yacht near Catalina Island and drowns. Her husband Robert Wagner, and melodramatic friend Christopher Walken, were on board and unaware of her predicament, apparently having some sort of argument in the cabin -



possibly about whether or not a drunken Natalie Wood could float (you know that's still an awful joke.)


November 28, 1994 -
Jeffrey Dahmer is beaten to death with a broomstick by inmate Christopher Scarver while cleaning the prison bathroom.



Dahmer's brain was to be preserved in formaldehyde at the request of Mom, but a court ordered its destruction in late 1995.

There's yet another lesson here boys and girls, dirty prison bathrooms kill!!!


21 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 26 more shopping days until Christmas.



And so it goes

It's the First Advent Sunday of the Year.

For those of you playing the home game,

You may open the first window in your calendar (but the chocolate probably isn't very good.)


November 27 is also the Feast of St. Josephat, a Middle Age prince who renounced his wealth to do charitable work.
Well, St. Josephat, turns out to be a Christianized version of a legend about Buddha (yeah Siddhārtha Gautama .) I don't remember them telling me that back at St, John's.

Funny, the things that slipped Sister Rita's mind. Oh, that wacky Catholic Church!


November 27, 1948 -
Another (less familiar) Daffy & Porky pairing, Riff Raffy Daffy, premiered on this date.



Stop! Don't do anything rash! Stop staring at me with those little piggy eyes!


November 27, 1967 -
The Beatles released Magical Mystery Tour in the US on this date.



While the film bombed both times it appeared on British television, and was never broadcast by the US networks, it did become a modest success on the American midnight and college movie circuits in the 1970s. After the premiere showing on the BBC, Ringo Starr apparently rang up the BBC complaining that the poor ratings were due to them showing "this colorful film" in B/W. The BBC responded by transmitting again, this time in glorious color a few days later. It still bombed.


November 27, 1980 -
The sitcom Bosom Buddies, staring Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Main characters named after two bars in Berkeley, CA: "Kips's" and "Henry's."


Today in History:
While you read this today on your computer, let us ruminate upon the life of Ada Lovelace, who died on this date in 1852.

Ada would have seemed to have been born into a charmed life. She was the only child of a titled lord and a very wealthy mother. Unfortunately for her, her father was the notorious, womanizing homosexual (let your mind rattle that around for a second) and not half bad poet Lord Byron.

She was named after Byron's half-sister, Augusta Leigh, by whom he was rumoured to have fathered a child (oh yeah, I forgot that - he slept with his half sister). It was Augusta who encouraged Byron to marry to avoid scandal, and he reluctantly chose Annabella Milbanke (very wealthy heiress and noted stick-in-the-mud). On January 16, 1816, Annabella left Byron, taking 1-month old Ada with her. On April 21, Byron signed the Deed of Separation and left England for good a few days later. He was never allowed to see either of them again.

Ada lived with her mother, as is apparent in her father's correspondence concerning her. Lady Byron was also highly interested in mathematics (Lord Byron once called her "the princess of parallelograms"), which dominated her life, even after marriage. Her obsession with rooting out any of the insanity of which she accused Lord Byron was one of the reasons why Annabella taught Ada mathematics at an early age. Ada was privately home schooled in mathematics and science by William Frend, William King and Mary Somerville. One of her later tutors was Augustus De Morgan. An active member of London society, she was a member of the Bluestockings in her youth.

In 1835 she married William King, 8th Baron King, later 1st Earl of Lovelace. Her full name and title for most of her married life was The Right Honourable Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace. She is widely known in modern times simply as Ada Lovelace, or by her birth name, Ada Byron.

Mary Somerville, one of her tutors, was a noted researcher and scientific author of the 19th century, who introduced her in turn to Charles Babbage on June 5, 1833. Other acquaintances were Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Charles Dickens and Michael Faraday. She apparently ran in heady circles for her day.

During a nine-month period in 1842-1843, Ada translated Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea's memoir on Babbage's newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine. With the article, she appended a set of notes which specified in complete detail a method for calculating Bernoulli numbers with the Engine, recognized by historians as the world's first computer program.



Lovelace's prose also acknowledged some possibilities of the machine which Babbage never published, such as speculating that "the Engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent."

Ada Lovelace was bled to death at the age of 36 by her physicians, who were trying to treat her uterine cancer, on this day. Thus, she perished, coincidentally, at the same age as her father and from the same cause - medicinal bloodletting. So while she considered the possible of the computer, doctors were still using leeches to cure their patients.

At her request, Lovelace was buried next to the father she never knew at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottingham.


Alfred Nobel signed his last will, which established the Nobel Prize on this date in 1895.

Mr Nobel is interesting because his fortune was founded in large part on the commercial success of something he invented in 1866: dynamite. Dynamite proved so lucrative for Mr Nobel that he was able to spend most of the rest of his life blowing things up in the interests of world peace. World peace was not achieved in his lifetime, however, and he therefore endowed a foundation with millions of dollars to give prizes to the men and women of future generations who helped bring the world closer to peace by blowing things up.



Sadly, in recent years the foundation appears to have forgotten its roots and has begun awarding prizes to men and women whose work for peace has resulted in things blowing up.



I encourage you all to write the Nobel Committee to take immediate corrective action, lest they continue to mislead people into thinking that Peace can be achieved by anything other than the blowing up of Evil Bastards.


November 27, 1978 -
City Supervisor Dan White enters San Francisco City Hall through an open basement window (avoiding metal detectors), walks into the office of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and shoots him dead. Then White continues to kill Supervisor Harvey Milk.



Apparently, Mr. White consumed too many Twinkies.


27 more shopping days until Christmas, 22 more shopping days until Hanukkah.



And so it goes

For no reason in particular

Steely Dan's Any Major Dude Will Tell You



Ok, back to the regularly scheduled blog


November 26, 1942 -
... I came here for the waters.

One of the classic films of the 40's, Casablanca, premiered in NYC on this date.



The Allies invaded Casablanca in real life on November 8, 1942. As the film was not due for release until spring, studio executives suggested it be changed to incorporate the invasion. Warner Bros. chief Jack L. Warner objected, as he thought that an invasion was a subject worth a whole film. Eventually he gave in, though, and producer Hal B. Wallis prepared to shoot an epilogue where Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains hear about the invasion. However, before Rains could travel to the studio for this, David O. Selznick (whose studio owned Bergman's contract) previewed the film and urged Warner to release it unaltered and as fast as possible. Warner agreed and the premiered in New York on this date.


November 26, 1952 -
In Thrilling Color!
The first modern 3-D movie Bwana Devil, viewed with special glasses, premiered in Hollywood.



The subject matter of the film, the 1898 Tsavo Lion attacks, is also the basis of the film The Ghost and the Darkness.


November 26, 1952 -
MGM released the first musical in 3-D, Kiss Me Kate on this date.



Several of the Broadway lyrics were considered too "spicy" for a film. For instance, "according to the Kinsey Report" (Alfred Kinsey) was changed to "according to the weather report" in the song, "Too Darn Hot", and a verse containing bawdy puns was omitted from "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" (William Shakespeare).


Today in History:
November 26, 1789 -
The first national Thanksgiving Day was observed in the United States as recommended by President George Washington and approved by Congress.

Thanks George.


November 26, 1865 -



Oxford Don and nude child photographer Charles Dodgson, sends the manuscript for the psychedelic novel Alice in Wonderland to his 12 year old special friend Alice Liddell.



For some reason her parents did not notify the authorities.


November 26, 1965 –
Arlo Guthrie was arrested in Stockbridge, Mass., for dumping some trash following a Thanksgiving feast at a restaurant run by Alice Brock.



He wrote a song about the event that became a folk classic and was turned into a movie in 1969.



Yes kids, it really happened.


November 26, 1976 -
Anarchy in the UK, (as a single) by the Sex Pistols is released.



The song later appeared on Never Mind the Bollocks.


28 more shopping days until Christmas, 23 more shopping days until Hanukkah.



And so it goes

And on the day after, the chef rested

As most of you know, the Friday after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year in the US.

Hopefully you are still well into your cups from yesterday.


Today is the fourth annual National Day of Listening. StoryCorps has designated the Friday after Thanksgiving to being 'a day of listening' .



This holiday season, ask the people around you about their lives: it could be your grandmother, a teacher, or someone from the neighborhood. By listening to their stories, you will be telling them that they matter and they won’t ever be forgotten. It may be the most meaningful time you spend this year.



(It's a good lie to tell yourself when you are listening to your drunk old uncle tell you for the umpteenth time how much he could buy with a nickel in his day.)


Today in History:
11/25 -
According to Biblical scholars, a powerful rain storm began on this date in 2348 BC . It rained an inch every ten seconds. Imagine that. An inch every ten seconds. The sheer volume and velocity of the deluge, comparable to rapid-fire artillery, ought to have been enough to kill every living thing on the planet in seconds, and yet it reportedly continued at this rate for a full 960 hours.

The only human survivors were a crotchety six-hundred-year-old man and his family. Fortunately, these sturdy souls had had the foresight to gather up two to seven specimens of every species on the planet (excepting, one assumes, the undaunted creatures of the sea) and load them onto a wooden boat before the storm began.



It may not sound like much, put like that, but considering the far-flung distribution of all the various creatures of the earth, and the difficulty of tracking down, say, all the varieties of paramecium without the benefit of a microscope, or sustaining desert flora on a water-logged ship, it was a considerable accomplishment.



I applaud the foresight, initiative, and ambition displayed by Noah and his family, but remain a little wary of the person or persons behind all that rain.


November 25, 1867 -
I can forgive Alfred Nobel for having invented dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize - George Bernard Shaw



Patent granted to Alfred Nobel for dynamite. To quote Big Jim McBob and Billy Sol Hurok , "May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up real good!!!"


November 25, 1914 -
Joe DiMaggio was born on this date. In addition to leading the New York Yankee to ten World Series championships, Joe DiMaggio also got to marry Marilyn Monroe.



Be grateful for role models.


November 25, 1940 -
Walter Lantz's introduced Woody Woodpecker with the release of Knock Knock on this date.



Although Woody made his first appearance in this film, he doesn't have a name until his next film, Woody Woodpecker.


November 25, 1970 -
Japanese playwright, poet, novelist, nationalism and patron of transvestite bars, Yukio Mishima commits seppuku (self disembowelment) after an aborted coup attempt in Japan.

He had authored over 100 works and was deemed by Life magazine the "Japanese Hemmingway".



One has to ask themselves - what is it that requires "true manhood" to face one's own death willingly.


On November 25, 1977, Greece announced the discovery of the tomb of King Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great.

On November 26, 1922, archeologists Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter opened the tomb of Egypt’s King Tutankhamen.

Be grateful that the high point of your job isn’t digging up people who’ve been dead for thousands of years.


November 25, 1987 -
Fawn Hall, Oliver North's assistant, removes documents from sealed National Security Council offices inside the White House by hiding them inside her skirt, causing President Ronald Reagan to form a task force which eventually put both North and Hall on trial.

Another true American Patriot



29 more shopping days until Christmas, 24 more shopping days until Hanukkah.


And so it goes

Got dinner plans?

Happy Thanksgiving folks! (It's much like going to the airport at my family's Thanksgiving - you are required to remove your shoes, there is a metal detector and you may be required to have a full body cavity search.)



Remember, it's about 20 minutes per pound for a frozen turkey and 15 minutes for a fresh one.


Today in History:
November 24, 1740 -
William Duell was hanged for rape and murder. A few hours later, whilst being prepared for dissection by medical students, he awakens .

The authorities took pity on him and commuted his sentence to one of transportation to Australia.

Wow that must have freaked him out.


November 24, 1835 -
The provisional government of Texas authorized the creation of the Texas Rangers (Corps of Rangers) police force.

While it's nice to think so, there's no truth to the rumor that Chuck Norris was there at the beginning.

November 24, 1859 -

Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species 152 years ago today.



And depending on your point of view, either this is a seminal work in scientific literature and arguably the pivotal work in evolutionary biology or



you're a monkey's uncle.

November 24, 1963 -

Extra-terrestrials used mass-hypnosis to persuade the world that someone resembling Jack Ruby had fatally shot someone resembling the person alleged to have been Lee Harvey Oswald. This also becomes the first actual murder captured on live TV.



The next day, November 25, a coffin containing the purported remains of the man, many Americans believed to have been John F. Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. And on November 29, President Lyndon Baines Johnson appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren the head of a commission to investigate the alleged assassination of the person believed to have been John F. Kennedy.



Be grateful the CIA, the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucians, extraterrestrials, and the Children's Television Workshop don't give a damn about you.


November 24, 1971 -

On Thanksgiving eve, DB Cooper boarded Flight 305 in Portland, Or., and demanded $200,000 with the threat of a bomb. He parachuted from a Northwest Airlines 727 with the money over the Cascade Mountains near Ariel, Wash., and was never seen again.



A packet containing $5,880 of the ransom money was found in 1980 on the north shore of the Columbia River, just west of the Washington city of Vancouver, but he's still is missing.


30 more shopping days until Christmas, 25 more shopping days until Hanukkah. (Black Friday is tomorrow.)

And so it goes

You can thank me later

Do you have to bring a dish or dessert or unexpectedly cook dinner from friends tomorrow? You actually still have time - peek in my cupboard to find and entire menu and recipes laid out for you but you'd better get cracking if you're going to get it together in time.

Good Luck. And don't forget to get some wine - ask you local bootlegger for an inexpensive Pinot Noir or Sauvignon Blanc.


Today is the birthday of both Boris Karloff (1887)



and Harpo Marx (1888).



And that makes this a good day.


I'm in the process of going over the river and through the woods to my mom's house (we're going to be 20 for dinner tomorrow) so here's an abbreviated version of

Today in History:
November 23, 1499 -
A young man claiming to be the son of Edward IV landed in Cornwall, England, and declared himself King Richard IV. Unfortunately England already a king, the young man wasn't really the son of Edward IV, and his name wasn't Richard.

He was in fact Perkin Warbeck, and was therefore hanged to death on this date (as opposed to having been well hung.)


November 23, 1910 -
English murderer Hawley Crippen an American physician is hanged in Pentonville Prison, London, England, after he was caught aboard the SS Montrose attempting to escape to Britain, on this date.



It was the first use of wireless radio for the apprehension of a criminal.


November 23, 1936 -
The first edition of Life, the picture magazine created by Henry R. Luce, was published on this date.

It was an immediate sellout.


November 23, 1963 -
The first episode of Doctor Who, The Unearthly Child, premiered on the BBC, on this date.



William Hartnell was the first Doctor Who.


November 23, 1976 -
Jerry Lee Lewis has been a bad boy again. On this date, he was arrested in front of Graceland in Memphis for public drunkenness, and carrying a chrome plated .38.



Looking for Elvis, I bet.


November 23, 1990 -
MTV banned Madonna's video Justify My Love due to its sexually-explicit content on this date.



Oh, do you remember when television was this quaint?



31 more shopping days until Christmas, 26 more shopping days until Hanukkah. (Black Friday is just 2 days away.)


And so it goes

Are the balalaikas still ringing out?

November 22, 1968 -
The Beatles released their long-awaited double album, simply called The Beatles, but better known as The White Album.





The album was the first The Beatles undertook following the death of their manager, Brian Epstein, and the first released by their own record label, Apple.


November 22, 1940 -
This is Bette Davis at her best - The Letter, premiered in NYC on this date.



Due to the restrictive the Production Code, the film ending is different from the original play because it would not allow one of its characters be seen to get away with adultery and murder.


Today in History:
November 22, 1888 -
Tarzan of the Apes (Lord Greystoke) was born on this date, according to Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel.




November 22, 1928 -
Maurice Ravel composition Boléro has it's first public performance in Paris on this date.



Boléro became Ravel's most famous composition, much to the surprise of the composer, who had predicted that most orchestras would refuse to play it


November 22, 1963 -
We, in this country, in this generation, are - by destiny rather than choice - the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. - from the address that President Kennedy never got to deliver in Dallas on this date.

A covert CIA operation privately funded by a plutocratic cabal of multinational industrial interests acting in conjunction with extraterrestrial forces and the Knights Templar succeeded in making it appear that Lee Harvey Oswald had assassinated President John F. Kennedy, on this date.

Or if this is too much for you, you can always believe in the MAGIC BULLET.


November 22, 1968 -
Many a KKK member and Daughter of the Civil War were given the vapors on this date in history.



Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) and Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) share the first interracial kiss in TV history on Star Trek.


November 22, 1975 -
Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias was proclaimed king of Spain after he confirms with advisers that Francisco Franco planned to be dead for a while.

Juan Carlos is related to both Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip (and as you know they are related to each other.) To confuse matters even more, his wife Queen Sofia, is related to all three of them.

Oh, love among the royals.


November 22, 1995 -
Toy Story is released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery.



Woody and Buzz Lightyear are inspired by director John Lasseter's own childhood toys. He based Woody on his own pull-string Casper doll, and once he grew out of Casper he moved on to a G.I Joe, a flashy toy at the time of his childhood.


32 more shopping days until Christmas, 27 more shopping days until Hanukkah. (Black Friday is just 3 days away.)



And so it goes

Say hello

Today is the 37th annual World Hello Day. Anyone can participate in World Hello Day simply by greeting ten people. This demonstrates the importance of personal communication for preserving peace. World Hello Day was begun in response to the conflict between Egypt and Israel in the Fall of 1973. Since then, World Hello Day has been observed by people in 180 countries.



I'm still working on making this day Say Hello to Kevin and give him 10 bucks day.


November 21, 1931 -
James Whale classic retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, premiered on this date.



During production there was some concern that seven-year-old Marilyn Harris, who played Maria, the little girl thrown into the lake by the creature, would be overly frightened by the sight of Boris Karloff in costume and make-up when it came time to shoot the scene. When the cast was assembled to travel to the location, Marilyn ran from her car directly up to Karloff, who was in full make-up and costume, took his hand and asked "May I drive with you?" Delighted, and in typical Karloff fashion, he responded, "Would you, darling?" She then rode to the location with The Monster.


November 21, 1942 -
Babbit and Catstello, take-offs on Bud Abbott and Lou Costello try to catch Tweety bird (in his first appearance) in A Tale of Two Kitties, premiered on this date.



The pink bird in this short is an early version of the character Tweety. Early model sheets for this short indicated that Tweety's original name was "Orson," though he is never specifically referred to that in the film. Later, after censors complained that the pink bird looked naked because he had no feathers, Tweety's color was changed to yellow.


November 21, 1946 -
One of the greatest films about vets returning home after WWII, The Best Years of Our Lives, premiered in NYC on this date.



To avoid awkwardness when he first met his fellow cast members, Harold Russell made a point of reaching out with his hooks and taking their hands, thus putting them at ease with his disability.


November 21, 1976 -
Ok everybody, "...Gonna Fly Now, Flying High Now..."

Rocky, premiered in NYC on this date.



One of the posters for the film featured a shot of Rocky and Adrian holding hands. Although this was one of the most popular images associated with the film, the scene this image was taken from was cut from the film.


Today in History:
November 21, 1694 -
Jean Francois Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet) was born on this date.



Voltaire is best known for having said things. Here are some of the witty things he said:

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."

"To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered."

"Anything too stupid to be said is sung."

"God created sex. Priests created marriage."

"It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge."

"He was unhappy only when he thought: and that is true of the majority of mankind."

"People who believe in absurdities will eventually commit atrocities."

And most significantly:

"A witty saying proves nothing."


November 21, 1921 -
U.S. President Warren G. Harding signed the Wills Campbell Act, which prohibited the medical prescription of beer and liquor on this date.

He was killed - probably by his wife - two years later and nobody seemed to mind (remember, this was the genius who lost the White House China in a poker game.)

Enough said.


November 21, 1964 -
The upper deck of The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened to traffic on this date(at the time it was the world's longest suspension bridge).

And it still takes forever to get to Jersey through Staten Island.


November 21, 1973 -
A gap of 18 1/2 minutes is revealed in one of the Watergate tapes, a conversation between Richard M. Nixon and Bob Haldeman. The erasure is blamed on an accident by Nixon's private secretary Rose Mary Woods, but scientific analysis determines the erasures to be deliberate. Later, Chief of Staff Alexander Haig blames the erasure on "some sinister force".



Forensic experts worked on Haldeman's notebook to see if they could find the imprint of any notes he may have taken that day but later destroyed. (The experts had inconclusive results.)


November 21, 1980 -
The third deadliest hotel fire in history occurs at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, caused by faulty wiring; 84 people dead. Helicopters were used to rescue stranded guests from the top floors.



No more pu-pu platters with charcoal grills in the suites.


November 21, 1997 -
Lead singer of INXS Michael Hutchence was found hanged in his hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Sydney Australia on this date. Police have denied that his death was due to Autoerotic Asphyxiation.



The fact that his pants were around his ankles and copies of the magazines "Hot Chicks in Tubs of Pudding" were scattered around the room, did not enter into it.


33 more shopping days until Christmas, 28 more shopping days until Hanukkah. (Black Friday is just 4 days away.)



And so it goes

It's Absurity Day

You are supposed to celebrate the illogical and senselessness of life



(I got nothing, I still feel like crud.)


November 20, 1965 -
Michael Louis Diamond, better known as Mike D, member of the Beastie Boys, was born on this date.



Once again, we are all getting old.


November 20, 1981 -
Miles Foreman's epic take on E.L. Doctorow novel, Ragtime, premiered on this date.



James Cagney had been advised by his doctors and caregivers that making a film at this point in his life was very important for his health. The actor never flew, so he and his wife took an ocean liner to London, where his scenes were filmed. It is a tribute to his professionalism that despite his numerous infirmities, he generously stayed on set during his fellow actors' closeups to give them line readings.


November 20, 1983 -
An estimated 100 million people watched the controversial ABC-TV movie The Day After, which depicted the outbreak of nuclear holocaust in the United States .



The premiere of this TV movie was a major media event. No sponsors bought commercial time after the point in the movie where the nuclear war occurs, so the last half of the show was aired straight through, without commercials.


Today in History :
November 20, 1917 -
T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) was held prisoner, whipped, and repeatedly raped by Turkish Army officers. He apparently thoroughly enjoyed the experience.



When the whip comes down, indeed.


It's the 36th anniversary of Generallismo Francisco Franco brave and courageous fight to remain dead.



He is still working at it today.


November 20, 1984 -
McDonald's made its 50 billionth hamburger at 12:10 P.M. in the Grand Hyatt Hotel, in New York City.

It was eaten by Richard J. McDonald, one of the founders, who cooked burger No. 1 in San Bernardino, Calif., 36 years previously. That first burger and the 50 billionth are still lodged undigested in the colon of the deceased Mr. McDonald.


November 20, 1985 -
Windows 1.0, a 16-bit graphical operating environment was released on this date. It was Microsoft's first attempt to implement a multi-tasking graphical user interface-based operating environment on the PC platform. Windows 1.0 was the very first version of Windows launched.

If you think I'm going to make fun of Bill Gates, you're mistaken.

Hooray for Big Brother!!!


34 more shopping days until Christmas, 29 more shopping days until Hanukkah. (Black Friday is just 5 days away.)



And so it goes

Happy Have A Bad Day Day

Since I'm still feeling ill, this is a perfect holiday for today. In fact, this seems to be a holiday tailor-made for George Carlin:



Honor George's memory - Have a Crappy Day Today


November 19, 1959 -
The first episode of Rocky & His Friends aired on this date.



Many of you know this famous line, Hey Rocky want to see me pull a rabbit out of my hat? But what you probably don't know is the line was originally, Hey Rocky, want to see me pull a hamster out of my ass?



TV censors were not amused.


November 19, 1975 -
One of Jack Nicholson's greatest performances, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, opened in the US on this date.



The cast and crew had to become accustomed to working with extras and supporting crew members who were inmates at the Oregon State Mental Hospital; each member of the professional cast and crew inevitably worked closely with at least two or three mental patients.


November 19, 1980 -
It fails so completely that you might suspect Mr. Cimino sold his soul to obtain the success of The Deer Hunter and the Devil has just come around to collect. - Vincent Canby

Michael Cimino's 'tainted masterpiece', Heaven's Gate premiered on this date.



After the film received scathing reviews after its New York premiere in November 1980, Michael Cimino sent a signed memo to the head of United Artists that asked them to pull the film from theaters so he go back and re-cut the film to a version that everyone would be satisfied with. It had been a misconception for years that it was United Artists that had pulled the film despite its negative press and reviews.


Today in History -
November 19, 1581 -
Russian Czar Ivan The Terrible killed his son, Ivan The Merely Petulant on this date. The younger Ivan interrupted the elder Ivan, who was beating Ivan Jr's pregnant wife because of her inappropriate garb. Still in a fit of range, dad smote his son with a staff, killing him dead.

This is what passed for family life amongst the Royals in the Middle Ages in Russia.


November 19, 1620 -
A group of maniacal religious fanatics reached North America and stepped ashore on Plymouth Rock. Because America did not yet have a Puritan Government, they developed the Mayflower Compact while still at sea. (William Bradford had argued for a Sporty Coupe, but the more practical John Alden had carried the day.)



Eventually the descendants of these frugal and passionately religious people would invent apps that enable the downloading of pornography to your smart phones around the world at light speed.


November 19, 1703 -
The Man in the Iron Mask died in the Bastille on this date.



He was a prisoner of Louis XIV, forced to wear a black velvet mask, and his identity has never been revealed.


Seven score and eight years ago today (November 19, 1863) -
President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on this date.



The speech remains an important part of American history on account of its having been written on the back of an envelope despite stringent postal requirements that addresses be printed clearly on the front.


November 19, 1954 -
Driving to Los Angeles, Sammy Davis, Jr. was in a serious automobile accident in San Bernardino on this date.

He lost his left eye, but the resultant publicity greatly accelerated his career.


November 19, 1961 -
Michael Rockefeller, 23 year old son of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller (later Vice President), disappears while searching for Asmat wood carvings in the jungles near Atsj, Papua New Guinea.



He was probably eaten by the Asmat. Hence the motto, "Eat the Rich".


35 more shopping days until Christmas, 30 more shopping days until Hanukkah. (Black Friday is just 6 days away.)



And so it goes

I am completely under the weather

so excuse me if none of today's postings make any sense.


November 18, 1985 -
Cartoon strips approach their apex on this date.

The comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, created by Bill Waterson, was first published on this date.

We discover Hobbes' love for tuna fish (and as I've said before, the world's greatest strip)

November 18, 1959 -
The Biblical spectaculars to end all spectaculars, Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, had its world premiere in New York, on this date.



Charlton Heston was taught to drive a chariot by the stunt crew, who offered to teach the entire cast. Heston was the only one who took them up on the offer. At the beginning of the chariot race, Heston shook the reins and nothing happened; the horses remained motionless. Finally someone way up on top of the set yelled, "Giddy-up!" The horses then roared into action, and Heston was flung backward off of the chariot.

November 18, 1987 -
Bernardo Bertolucci's magnificent take on Pu Yi, The Last Emperor, premiered in NYC on this date.



The first feature film granted permission by the Chinese government to be filmed in the Forbidden City. A documentary produced and directed by Lucy Jarvis for NBC Films Ltd. in 1973 named "The Forbidden City" was the first western film permitted to film within the Forbidden City. Security was so tight around the shoot, that when, one day, Peter O'Toole forgot his pass, he was denied entrance to the set.


November 18, 1992 -
The biopic of the influential Black Nationalist leader, Malcolm X, premiered on this date.



Spike Lee urged kids to cut school to see his movie, believing that "X" provides just as much (or more) education.


Today in History
November 18, 1307 -
Local Child Services authorities in Uri, Switzerland report that a William Tell shoots apple off his son's head

- Charges may still be pending.


November 18, 1421 -
A seawall at the Zuiderzee dike breaks, in the Netherlands, flooding 72 villages and killing somewhere between 4,000 and 10,000 people.

Please try to refrain yourselves from make jokes about the killer dikes.


November 18, 1477 -
William Caxton published the first book printed in England, on this date. The book was a translation of The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers, by Frenchman Guillaume de Tignoville. The translation to English was performed by Anthony Wodville, Earl Rivers, who had devoted a considerable portion of his life to the study of philosophers' dictes.

Wodville first formulated the theory that the length of a philosopher's dicte was less important than its thrust. He has also been credited with originating the theory that a philosopher's dicte was commensurate with his shoe size. Neither theory is given much credence by contemporary philosophers, most of whom appear to be dicteless anyway.


November 18, 1686 -
King of France Louis XIV's anal fistula was operated on by surgeon Charles Francois Felix, with great success, in front of the horrified yet fascinated court. To prepare for the operation Felix practiced his surgery on anuses of the peasantry, with some fatalities at first but improving his technique in time for the royal bung.

This is what passed for entertainment at the royal court.


November 18, 1922 -
Marcel Proust, French a pioneer of the modern novel (A la Recherche du Temps Perdu), died at 51 on this date.



While it is generally agreed upon that he died of pneumonia and a pulmonary abscess, I believe he was crushed by the sheer weight of the unedited proof of his massive novel.


November 18, 1928 -
Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, was released on this date.



Even though this is his third appearance in a cartoon - Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse (according to the Disney corporation and I wouldn't mess with them.)


November 18, 1966-
After this final "meatless" day of sacrifice, the American Roman Catholic Church would withdraw its edict forbidding meat consumption on Fridays.



No one knows how much the American Beef Council 'donated' to the church on that day.


November 18, 1970 -
Singer/polygamist Jerry Lee Lewis divorces his third wife Myra Gail, after 12 years of marriage. Not only was she jailbait when they got married (being 13 at the time), but Lewis was married to Jane Mitcham at the time.



It's so hard to keep details like the number of wives you have straight in your mind.


November 18, 1978 -
Congressman Leo Ryan was slain at the People's Temple compound in Guyana, after which over 900 members of the cult led by the Reverend Jim Jones drank cyanide laced Flavor Aid (a Kool Aid knockoff), including over 270 children. It was probably not a pretty sight.



The Kraft Foods Company would like you guys to stop making those damn 'drink the Kool Aid' jokes

- it wasn't them. So go 'drink the damn Flavor Aid and drop dead'.


36 more shopping days until Christmas, 31 more shopping days until Hanukkah. (Black Friday is just 7 days away.)


And so it goes