We are most alive when we're in love

There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.

Happy Valentine's Day folks





Remember to enjoy the day and don't eat too much chocolate


For those of you not in a romantic mood today:
February 14, 1931 -
Just in time for the Valentine's Day holiday, Universal Pictures released Tod Browning's horror classic, Dracula, on this date.



There was no real musical soundtrack in the film because it was believed that, with sound being such a recent innovation in films, the audience would not accept hearing music in a scene if there was no explanation for it being there (e.g., the orchestra playing off camera when Dracula meets Mina at the theatre).


February 14, 1962 -
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, with her breathless voice, takes television viewers on a tour of the White House. (Haven't you always found it strange that Marylin Monroe and Jackie Kennedy basically had the same voice?)



It was estimated that hundreds of millions of people saw the program, making it the most widely viewed documentary during the genre's so-called golden age.


February 14, 1970 –
Sly & the Family Stone's song Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) and it's 'double A-side' Everybody Is a Star hit no. #1 on the Billboard charts at the same time on this date.





Sly Stone wrote this because he was upset that people were not listening to the messages in his songs even though the band was more popular then ever. They were an integrated band and tried to spread the message of racial harmony, but Stone thought that message was getting lost. The lyrics are scathing and mostly directed at Sly himself, but once again, many people lost the message in the powerful groove.


February 14, 1987 –
The Bon Jovi song, Livin’ On A Prayer, hit No. 1 on this date.



Jon Bon Jovi wanted to leave Livin’ On A Prayer off the Slippery When Wet album, thinking it wasn't good enough. But, a chance meeting with a group of teenage fans changed his mind and it was added to the album.


February 14, 1991 -
Another fine film for Valentines Day - The Silence of the Lambs, based on the book by Thomas Harris, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, premiered in the US on this date.



The real-life FBI's Behavioral Science Unit assisted in the making of this movie. Jodie Foster spent a great deal of time with FBI agent Mary Ann Krause prior to filming. Krause gave Foster the idea of Starling standing by her car crying. Krause told Foster that at times, the work just became so overwhelming that it was a good way to get an emotional release.


If you're alone on this holiday at 5 pm - this is for you


Today in History:
February 14, 1400 -
... How some have been depos’d, some slain in war,   
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed,   
Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping kill’d,   
All murdered ...



King Richard II of England, who had been deposed in 1399, died mysteriously on this date.


February 14, 1779 -
English explorer Captain James Cook and some of his crew are slaughtered (and possibly eaten) by angry Hawaiian islanders, after he tried to take a Hawaiian chief hostage over a dispute regarding a stolen boat.



There was possibly a better way to get the deposit back on a boat.


February 14, 1849 –
On this date, in New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.

The daguerreotype was taken by famous photographer Matthew Brady. (According to some sources, after delivering his 1841 inaugural speech, President Harrison posed for a daguerreotype. Harrison died after only 31 days into his term. That photograph, if it existed, has since been lost.)


February 14, 1929 -
The Capone gang killed six members of the Bugs Moran gang and one other person at the S.M.C. Cartage company in Chicago, in an event known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.



Bogus police officers were used so that it appeared to be a routine police bust. Except for all the bodies.


February 14, 1948 -
Raymond Joseph Teller (Teller) an illusionist, comedian and writer best known as the silent half of the comedy magic duo known as Penn and Teller, accomplished sleight of hand artist, painter, atheist, debunker, skeptic and Fellow of the Cato Institute was born on this date.



He legally changed his name to Teller and possesses one of the few United States passports issued in a single name.

Yeah, he can speak (you idiots.)


February 14, 1989 –
Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.



Still, 30 years later, threats against Salman Rushdie's life persist. Although mass protests have stopped, the themes and questions raised in his novel remain hotly debated.



And so it goes.



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