Today is No Dirty Dishes Day.

Some feel this day was established to have a day free of dirty dishes.

In other words, you should have gotten all the dishes done last night so that you can relax today.

Oops, I guess I should have mentioned this yesterday.


Today is also Dance Parade Day. 

Check out the thousands of dancers as they make their way down Broadway to the East Village.


Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, and Jimmy Stewart was born on May 20, 1908. Without them we would not have had such American classics as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Mr. Smith Goes Back to Washington, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Again, Mr. Smith Did Not Tap his Foot under a Stall, The Koch Brothers present Mr. Smith and the Tea Party, Mr. Smith is Really Very Serious about Term Limits and Mr. Smith Drops Dead in A Senate Cloakroom (astride a male intern.)



The duo also gave us It's a Wonderful Life with its own magnificent sequels: It's a Really Wonderful Life, It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than Life and Life Is Just So Damn Good I Don't Know Whether to Take a Dump or Go Blind.


Today in History:
On May 18, 1843, Joseph Smith made a specific prophecy -

"I prophesy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by her officers that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left."

Ominously, Smith's prophesy is proven true. By the Great Depression of 1888, most potsherds are only found in museums and the value of broken pottery plummets to near worthlessness.


May 18, 1936 -
Tokyo gangster Kichizo Ishida was accidentally strangled by his mistress during a session of rough sex. Ishida had been a "gasper," someone who enjoys the sexual effects of asphyxiation. The woman, Sada Abe, indulged him by wrapping her pink kimono belt around his neck. After her lover's death, Abe cuts off Ishida's penis and scrotum with a meat cleaver and carries them around until she is finally arrested, three days later.



40 years later, a taboo breaking film, In the Realm of the Senses, was released, retelling the events of this sordid tale.

Makes a great first date movie.


May 18, 1955 -
In the West, audiences think I am a stereotyped action star, or that I always play hitmen or killers. But in Hong Kong, I did a lot of comedy, many dramatic films, and most of all, romantic roles, lots of love stories. I was like a romance novel hero.







The superstar Asian actor, Chow Yun-Fat, was born on this date.


May 18, 1980 -
The body of Ian Curtis, lead singer of dirge band Joy Division, was discovered hanging in the kitchen by his wife on this date. Curtis killed himself on the eve of Joy Division's U.S. tour.



His surviving band mates go on to form New Order.


May 18, 1980 -
After a 5.1 magnitude earthquake in Washington state, 57 people were killed in an avalanche of volcanic mud in the eruption of Mount St. Helens.



The volcano spews out 200 million cubic yards of of pumice, ash, and debris which covers 24 square miles of the valley below.

Kids, how many time do I have to remind you - virgins, sacrifice virgins - not any old skank.



And so it goes