Beer. Now there's a temporary solution.

Today we can celebrate National American Beer Day. But please follow along as this will get confusing:

National Beer Day,is celebrated on April 7.
International Beer Day,is celebrated on the first Friday in August5.
National Drink Beer Day,is celebrated on September 28, celebrated around Octoberfest, which is celebrated in Munich.



While beer is not my go to beverage of choice, I'm happy to down a frosty cold one or two.


October 27, 1954 -
"... It was all started by a mouse."

Walt Disney's first TV show, Disneyland, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



All of the ABC episodes were filmed in color, even though they aired in black and white. In general, ABC did not broadcast in color until the mid 1960s. During the years on ABC, the show went by the title of Disneyland, with one of four weekly sub titles, either Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland or Tomorrowland, depending on the category of that week's show.


October 27, 1955 -
The quintessential 50s movie (although quite startling at the time,) Nicholas Ray's masterful, Rebel Without a Cause, was released on this date.



Natalie Wood was first considered too young for the role of Judy. Even though she was the same age as the character, she was at least 5 years younger than all the other candidates except Margaret O'Brien. She adopted a mature woman's hairstyle, started wearing heavy eye makeup and eventually attracted the notice of director Nicholas Ray, 43, who began an affair with the 16-year-old and gave her the part.


October 27, 1964 -
Another Paddy Chayefsky scripted classic from the 60s (although unappreciated), The Americanization of Emily, starring James Garner and Julie Andrews, premiered on this date.



This is the only movie in which Julie Andrews appeared in between her iconic performances in Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. Andrews later said she was particularly happy about the timing of this movie's release and its commercial and critical successes. She speculated that if she had appeared in the two well-known family musicals back-to-back that she risked being typecast, which could have ultimately hurt her career.


October 27, 1966 -
The Star Trek episode where the Enterprise discovers an exact duplicate of Earth, where the only survivors of a deadly plague are the planet’s prepubescent children, Miri premiered on this date.



The girl held by Kirk as he rushes to the lab with his newly-recovered communicator is played by William Shatner's daughter Melanie Shatner. Leonard Nimoy was asked to allow his children to appear as extras but Nimoy refused to let his children be involved in show business. His son, Adam Nimoy, did grow up to become a television director, including a few episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.


October 27, 1966 -
The third Charles Schultz Peanuts special, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, (directed again by Bill Melendez,) premiered on this date.



Despite Charlie Brown going trick-or-treating and Linus not, Linus technically wound up with more candy than Charlie did. This was because Lucy asked one house to give her another piece of candy for Linus.


October 27, 1982 -
Prince's fifth album, 1999, was released on this date. It becomes his breakthrough, selling well over 5 million copies worldwide, thanks to Little Red Corvette and the title track.



The album helped propel him to superstar status, a title he lived up to with electrifying live shows and a startlingly prolific output of material, including music, movies and videos.


October 27, 1988 -
U2's film Rattle And Hum, received its world wide premiere in the group's hometown of Dublin on this date.



Many of the songs performed in Rattle and Hum are altered from their original release, most notably: With or Without You, which contains a whole new verse to end the song; Exit, which includes the chorus from Gloria (interestingly, the Van Morrison song, although U2 also had an early hit titled Gloria); and Bad, which adds verses from the Rolling Stones' Ruby Tuesday and Sympathy for the Devil.


October 27, 1995 -
One of the least happiest films ever made, Leaving Las Vegas, directed by Mike Figgis and starring Nicolas Cage, and Elisabeth Shue went into limited release in the US on this date.



Author John O'Brien, on whose novel this movie is based, committed suicide two weeks after the movie went into production. Director Mike Figgis contemplated abandoning the project, but decided the film would make a good memorial for O'Brien.


October 27, 1998 -
R.E.M. appeared on The Jools Holland Show, Later, which was recorded at BBC TV Centre on this date.



Two days earlier, R.E.M. played almost the identical concert for BBC Radio 1 at the Radio Theater at Broadcasting House in London for an audience primarily consisting of fan club members and contest winners.


Another ACME Safety Film


Today in History:
On October 27, 312, on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine had a vision assuring him of victory in the name of the Christian God.



As emperor, Constantine served as a patron for the church, contributing to its rapid growth in the fourth century. (So just that I have this right - if sunglasses had been invented and he didn't have sun glare in his eyes, most of the world would still be engaged in wanton sodomy.)


October 27, 1553 -
Michael Servetus, noted theologian, was honored in Switzerland for his discovery of the pulmonary circulation of the blood, on this date by being burned at the stake just outside Geneva with what was believed to be the last copy of his writing chained to his leg. Historians record his last words as: "Jesus, Son of the Eternal God, have mercy on me."

John Calvin is given a good deal of credit for having arranged these honors, which may have had something to do with his own gratitude to Mr. Servetus for having raised an important theological question.

Throughout history, such important theological questions have caused almost as much bloodshed as important theological answers. That doesn't mean theology's an especially bloody field - there's been just as much carnage from philosophy, politic



It's probably all that blood that puts the 'human' in the humanities or as one of my faith readers put it, the 'hard' in hard science.


October 27, 1682 -
The City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was founded on this date. In 1681, as part of a repayment of a debt, Charles II of England granted William Penn a charter for what would become the Pennsylvania colony. Penn's ship anchored off the coast of New Castle, Delaware, on October 27, 1682, and he arrived in Philadelphia (which did not exist at the time, if you are following along, the Lenni Lenape Indians certainly didn't call this place Philadelphia) a few days after that.



He expanded the city west to the bank of the Schuylkill River, for a total of 1,200 acres. Streets were laid out in a gridiron system. Except for the two widest streets, High (now Market) and Broad, the streets were named after prominent landowners who owned adjacent lots. And no cheese steaks were involved.


October 27, 1858 -
Rowland H. Macy opened R.H. Macy Dry Goods on the corner of Sixth Ave. and 14th St. in New York City on this date.

First day sales were $11.06 but by the end of the first year, sales totaled almost $90,000. By 1877, R.H. Macy and Co. had become a full-fledged department store occupying 11 adjacent buildings.


October 27, 1904 -
The first underground segment of the New York City Subway officially opened on this date, running from City Hall in lower Manhattan to Broadway in Harlem.



The fare was a nickel and on the first day the trains carried over 150,000 passengers. Today it is one of the most extensive public transportation systems in the world. And with any luck, they will extend the Q line to 125th Street within my lifetime.


October 27, 1939 -
John Cleese, actor, writer and all around funny guy was born on this date. (Oh yeah, I think he was in a comedy group in the late 60s, early 70s.)



I hope John continues being funny and stops giving his opinion on how terrible it was to have been in Monty Python.


October 27, 1962 -
The British comedy stage revue Beyond the Fringe, written by and starring Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett opening in NYC on this date.



This show is often seen as the beginning of the British satirical comedy of the 60s and many of the members Monty Python found this show highly influential.


October 27, 1964 -
In a private ceremony, Sonny and Cher exchanged rings in Tijuana (on this date) and told others they were married,



they were not legally married until 1969.


October 27, 2013 -
Meditation doesn't have to be complicated. What I do is about as simple as you can get. You could just count the beads, one, two, three, with your eyes closed or open, whatever makes you happy.



Music legend (and general major pain in the ass) Lou Reed died on this date.



And so it goes