A helpful tip

Valentine's Day is in a week - play it safe



Even though it's cold, start shopping now.


The eighth day of Lunar New Year is the the birthday of Yen-Lo King, who is 5th king of Legendary Hell in fifth palace. The fifth palace of the hell is under the northern-east side of the big scorching and burning stone in the sea. The palace has 64,000 square miles long. It contains 16 divisions of the small hells. (Be thankful you don't have to clean it.) Yen-Lo King was originally in charge of the first palace of the hell. He sent the dead who died of injustice back to the human world to have a chance to clear up the false charge many times. Then he was demoted to the fifth palace of the hell. (At least he didn't have to test rectal thermometers.)

The day is also referred to as The Completion Day - people should return from the holiday vacation and go back to work. All the meat and cake prepared for Chinese New Year should finish on this day. Everything should back to normal.


The Olympic opening ceremonies are this evening



I'm hoping that there will be a battle of the band competition between the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Choir and the Russian Army Choir during the proceedings.


February 7, 1908 -
Buster Crabbe, Olympic athlete, actor and swimming pool sales man, was born on this date.







Crabbe is the only actor who played Tarzan, Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers - the top three comic strip heroes of the 1930s.


February 7, 1914 -
Charlie Chaplin first appeared as The Tramp, in his first film Kid Auto Races at Venice which was released by Keystone Studios, 100 years ago today, on this date. The Tramp, as portrayed by Chaplin, was a bumbling but usually good-hearted character who was most famously presented as a vagrant who endeavors to behave with the manners and dignity of a gentleman despite his actual social status.



With only a small number of exceptions, Chaplin would play only The Tramp (or slight variations on the character) on film until The Great Dictator.


February 7, 1940 -
Walt Disney's second feature-length movie, Pinocchio, premiered at the Center Theatre in Manhattan on this date.



Mel Blanc, well known for performing the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and many other cartoon characters, was hired to perform the voice of Gideon the Cat. However, it was eventually decided that Gideon should be mute, and all of Blanc's recorded dialogue was cut, save one solitary hiccup.


February 7, 1962 -
Edward John "Eddie" Izzard, stand-up comedian, dramatic actor and until recently an executive transvestite, was born on this date.







Long time readers of this silliness may have realized that I am very partial to Mr Izzard, Executive Transvestite.


February 7, 1965 -
... Charlie Brown is the one person I identify with. C.B. is such a loser. He wasn't even the star of his own Halloween special....







Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III, comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer, director and not an executive transvestite was born on this date.


February 7, 1974 -
Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles opened on this date. Fart jokes gain a certain cache afterwards.



The role of Bart was intended for Richard Pryor, but due to the controversial nature of Pryor's stand-up routines of the day and his background, Mel Brooks couldn't secure financing for the project with Pryor in that role. So Pryor was made a co-writer of the script, and Cleavon Little played Bart.


Today in History:
February 7, 1812 -
Charles Dickens, English novelist, was born in Portsmouth, England on this date.



He was the quintessential Victorian author.


February 7, 1845 -
An 'intemperate' vandal, William Lloyd, entered the British Museum and smashed the irreplaceable Portland Vase into over 200 pieces on this date. The elaborate glass amphora was created when Augustus was Caesar and was about ten inches high (the vase, not the emperor.)



It took a lot of crazy glue and months to repair.


On February 7, 1898, the trial of Emile Zola began in Paris. He lost, but then eventually he won. He accused someone of something. Somehow, the actor Paul Muni was involved. Or vice-versa. Long story.




It all began in the backwoods of Illinois... no, that was Lincoln. Never mind


February 7, 1964 -
It was 50 years ago today, The Beatles arrived at JFK International Airport to begin their first tour of the United States. They helped bring about a social revolution whose effects can be felt to this day. They had nothing to declare but their genius.

The Beatles came from Britain, sometimes known as England, a little island in the North Atlantic from which many people have come to the United States over the years, some of them without guitars.



The British (or English), like so many other Europeans, have a long and storied history. Although it took the French to perfect the guillotine, the English (or British) made up for in zeal what they lacked in technological savvy, and next week is the anniversary of three British (or English) queens having their heads hewn from their shoulders.



On February 8, 1587, after nineteen years in prison, Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded.



On February 12, 1554, Lady Jane Grey, Queen for nine days in 1553, was beheaded.



On February 13, 1542, Catherine Howard, Henry VIII's Vth wife, was beheaded.



If you can get to an English (or British) pub next week, order a beer with extra head and see if they get the joke. Be prudent, however, as people will sometimes react in unexpected ways when asked for any kind of head at all.)


February 7, 1968 -
It became necessary to destroy the town to save it. -

This was a quote attributed by Peter Arnett (written on this date.) to an anonymous American major speaking about the town of Ben Tre, the main town in Ben Tre province, Vietnam, after the Americans had heavily bombarded it.


February 7, 1990 -
The Soviet Union's Communist Party agreed to let opposition political parties compete for control of the country, thereby giving up its monopoly on power.

They were forced to sell of most of their properties on Baltic Avenue.



And so it goes.