Don't it make you want to rock and roll

January 24, 1947 -

... I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful

On the radio, Mohammed's Radio.

Warren William Zevon, singer-songwriter and musician, was born on this date.

Remember kids - keep enjoying every sandwich.

It's the Second Day of Chinese New Year Festival -

One should eat dumplings today. Some Chinese will eat dumpling because its shape like ancient Chinese money - gold ingot. On this day, people pray to their ancestors as well as the Gods to bring them good luck and prosperity in the coming year. The married women visit their own houses in the second day. The second day is also considered as the birthday of all the dogs and so the people behave kindly to the dogs and feed them.

The 2012 Oscar nominations are out this morning


January 24, 1940 -
John Ford's film version of John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath, starring Henry Fonda, premiered in NYC on this date.



Henry Fonda, still struggling to became a big Hollywood star, tried to avoid being a contract player for 20th Century-Fox because he wanted the ability to independently choose his own projects (an increasing number of stars at the time were trying to gain such independence). But when the much-coveted part of Tom Joad was offered to him, Fonda hesitantly gave in and signed a contract to work with the studio for seven years because he knew it would be the role of a lifetime.


January 24, 1949 -

...I owe it all to little chocolate donuts.

John Belushi, actor and comedian, was born on this date.

Today in History:

January 24, 41 -

Roman emperor and crackpot Caligula is assassinated by his bodyguards. His last words apparently were, "I am still alive! Strike again."

Yeah, yeah, I know you know that the Roman Emperor Caligula made his horse a senator and a god, married his sister, slept with the horse, slept with the potted plants ...

I guess this guy got more unnatural things done in a day then most of us do in a lifetime.

January 24, 1848 -

James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento, starting the California gold rush.

According to the Gold Institute less than 2 million ounce's of gold were mined during the height of the California Gold Rush in 1849.

January 24, 1908 -

The first Boy Scout troop is organized in England by its founder, Robert Baden-Powell, a man who enjoyed seeing and photographing naked boys swimming just a little too much.

It is odd that such a homophobic organization would be founded by a repressed homosexual.

January 24, 1927 -

Alfred Hitchcock, former titles writer for silent movies, releases his first film, The Pleasure Garden, in England.

Cinematographer Gaetano Ventimiglia hid the camera underneath Hitchcock's bunk, in an attempt to avoid Italian duties. The unexposed film was confiscated and the crew bought new film to shoot on location, seriously depleting the film's budget. Later, the confiscated film was returned.

January 24, 1978 -

The nuclear-powered Soviet Cosmos 954 satellite plunges through Earth's atmosphere and disintegrates, scattering radioactive debris over parts of Canada's Northwest Territories. Much of the satellite lands in the Great Slave Lake; only about 1% of the radioactive material is recovered.

Hey, I hope we all enjoyed that smoked salmon from Canada in the late 70's.

January 24, 1986 -

Note to Tom Cruise - nothing to read here, move on.

Crackpot and founder of the fraudulent Scientology movement, L. Ron Hubbard died on this date. His bad science fiction writing has grown alarmingly prolific in the years since his death.

And so it goes.