Kids, you can take a quick check of the whole naughty/ nice thing and see how you are doing.
Michael Jackson, resplendent in his celestial robes, has been singing in Heaven for seven years now. More importantly to his earth bound relatives, Michael continues to support the various members of the Jackson factions quite nicely. Death hasn't put a crimp in his record sales. (Please ignore those nasty photos that they only 'just' found in his house.)
Farrah Fawcett also died seven years ago today. I don't believe she's singing with any heavenly children's choir.
There is no connection between these two events but it's also the birthday of Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou:
I wonder how he will celebrate his 53rd birthday? (if it involves a leather hood, Japanese Clover Clamps, a glass pipe, brimming with crystal meth and a large can of Crisco, hopefully he's doing it safely.)
June 25, 1938 -
Another in the series of 'books come alive', Have You Got Any Castles? was released on this date.
The globe on the cover of Pearl Buck's book The Good Earth requests blessings for people in his family, including "Papa Leon and Uncle Ray." This is in reference to Leon Schlesinger, who was the executive producer of the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons up until 1944, and Raymond Katz, Schlesinger's brother-in-law, who also worked in the cartoon studio.
June 25, 1963 -
One of Federico Fellini's greatest films,Otto e mezzo, (8 ½), opened in the US, on this date.
Federico Fellini was well-known for working without a stable, finished screenplay. At one point during pre-production, he had completely forgot what his next work would have been about, his original idea had completely gone. While he was set to communicate to the movie producer Angelo Rizzoli his intention of abandoning the project, Fellini was invited to the birthday party of a head camera-operator of Cinecittà . All of a sudden, during the celebration, he got a new idea: his film would have told about a film-director who was going to direct a film, but he forgot what it was about.
June 25, 1982 -
The greatest dystopian Sci- Fi film (at this point), Blade Runner, opened on this date.
Ridley Scott was dismayed to discover that American crews operated very differently from British ones (this was Scott's first American film). In his native UK, Scott was primarily a camera operator and would always step behind the camera to see through the viewfinder himself. This wasn't common practice in America and led to much tension between director and crew.
On the same day, Universal Pictures releases the sci-fi horror film John Carpenter’s The Thing directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell.
The producers consider the film's disappointing box office performance was down to the fact that people were flocking to a more benign interpretation of an alien presence on earth - Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial which was released several weeks beforehand.
Besides the fact that both films opened on this date, the similarities don't end there: both movies met with unfavorable reactions at the premiere but became widely loved sci-fi classics in the years to come.
June 25, 1993 -
Possibly the greatest Meg Ryan 'chick flick' (which may seem redundant to some,) Sleepless in Seattle, premiered on this date.
The role of Annie was originally offered to Julia Roberts, who turned it down. Kim Basinger was also offered the role in the early script process, but turned it down because she thought the premise was ridiculous. After Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jodie Foster declined as well, Meg Ryan landed the role.
Today in History:
June 25, 841 -
June 25, 1876 -
This is a little cautionary tale about pissing off the wrong people.
This is the native way a sending a very serious message.
June 25, 1903 -
Eric Arthur Blair was born on this day in eastern India, the son of a British colonial civil servant. He burned to be a writer but had no success get people to look at his work, so he was forced him into a series of menial jobs.
Finally he became a Famous Author and even a Great Writer, but by then he was dead, whatever his name was.
June 25, 1906 -
A love triangle came to a violent end atop the original Madison Square Garden as architect Stanford White, the building's designer, was shot to death by Harry Thaw, for an alleged tryst White had with Thaw's wife, Florence Evelyn Nesbit.
Thaw, tried for murder, was acquitted by reason of insanity. At the time this was called "The Crime of the Century."
June 25, 1910 -
The Mann Act, sometimes known as the White Slave Traffic Act of 1910, makes it a federal crime to convey or assist in transporting women across state lines for prostitution, debauchery, or "any other immoral purpose." Men convicted of this heinous (if vague) statute face up to five years and a $5,000 fine for each count. Penalties are doubled if the female is underage, (but men and boys are apparently not covered.)
Unless you're into guys - then it's smooth sailings.
June 25, 1967 -
The first live, international, satellite television production, Our World, was broadcast on this date. Among the featured performers were opera singer Maria Callas, artist Pablo Picasso and a small English skiffle group called The Beatles.
When the The Beatles' appearance on the program was announced, John Lennon wrote the song especially for the occasion. He was told by the BBC: it had to be simple so that viewers would tune in.
I guess he was right.
Begin to scare the children - there are 183 days until Christmas.
And so it goes.
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