Happy Birthday Princess Leia

Carrie Fisher, actress and writer was born on this date. You can't say anything bad or funny about her that she hasn't already say better herself.



"You can't find true affection in Hollywood because everyone does the fake affection so well."


October 21, 1937 -
A Great Screwball comedy, starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, The Awful Truth, premiered on this date.



The dog playing Mr. Smith in ‘The Awful Truth’ was in ‘The Thin Man’ movies as Asta.


October 21, 1964 -
Yeah, yeah, Audrey Hepburn is Julie Andrews but possibly the most fully realized movie musical, My Fair Lady premiered in New York, on this date.



Because of the way Rex Harrison talked his way through the musical numbers, they were unable to prerecord them and have him lip-sync, so a wireless microphone (one of the first ever developed) was rigged up and hidden under his tie. However, this meant that his mouth and words were completely in sync and everyone else's looked off, since they were lip-syncing (when everyone is lip-syncing, it's not that noticeable). The studio thought that this was too obvious so they altered Harrison's soundtrack, lengthening and shortening notes in various places so that his synchronicity is slightly off like all the other actors.

Betcha didn't know that.

Today's word of the day -
Fopottee: noun, a simple-minded person. For all of his strongly held political beliefs, Glenn Beck is no more than a fopottee.


Today in History:
October 21, 1805 -
The Battle of Trafalgar was a historic sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy - the battle, it self, was the most decisive British victory of the Napoleonic Wars and was a pivotal naval battle of the 19th century. Admiral Lord Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle, becoming and remaining Britain's greatest naval war hero.


Nelson's body was placed in cask of brandy, mixed with camphor and myrrh, and returned to England for a spectacular funeral. An enduring rumor has evolved that the sailors aboard ship kept taking a sip from Nelson's liquory tomb hence the phrase "Nelson's blood' came into use for rum.




October 21, 1879 -
Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Alva Edison invented the incandescent electric lamp on this date (or some other date, as previously mentioned.)



That invention was the fruit of study, hard work, and years of persistent experimentation, rendering it entirely inappropriate for discussion here.


More worthy of our attention is Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel Prize, born on this date in 1833.


Mr Nobel is interesting because his fortune was founded in large part on the commercial success of something he invented in 1866: dynamite.



Dynamite proved so lucrative for Mr Nobel that he was able to spend most of the rest of his life blowing things up in the interests of world peace. World peace was not achieved in his lifetime, however, so he endowed a foundation with millions of dollars to give prizes to the men and women of future generations who helped bring the world closer to peace by blowing things up.


October 21, 1973 -
John Paul Getty III's ear is cut off by his kidnappers and sent to a newspaper in Rome; It doesn't arrive until November 8.


So much for the Italians getting the trains to run on time.


October 21, 1995 -
Shannon Hoon, lead singer of the pop band Blind Melon, dies of a heroin overdose in New Orleans, inside the band's tour bus.




And so it goes

I'm not a big whiskey drinker

But this is a great commercial



Now if they could only make a gin commercial like this ...


Today's word of the day
Krioboly: noun, sacrifice of many rams; bath in blood of rams. Ever since the appearance of Gozer, the number of kriobolies had increased dramatically. Mort the shepard is cleaning up.


Today in History:
October 20, 1918 -
Rarely seen now, but one of Charlie Chaplin most popular films at it time, Shoulder Arms, was released on this date.



Many in Hollywood advised Chaplin not to tackle the subject of WWI but with his usual keen sense of what material was right for him, Chaplin would go on to direct what was to become the most popular film of the entire war period.


October 20, 1930 -
Death row murderer Wiliam Kogut commits suicide in San Quentin prison with MacGyver like ingenuity.


He tore the red spots from a deck of playing cards, the the time the red dye used on the pack of cards was made from nitrocellulose, saturated them with water, and jammed them into a length of steel pipe from his bed frame. Kogut placed the bomb on the heater and waited for science to take it's course.

I wonder if he went to a specialized High School.


October 20, 1947 -
Chaired by J. Parnell ThomasUnder (one of the committee's members was Richard M. Nixon), The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigation into Communist infiltration of Hollywood.



The resulting hysteria results in the creation of a blacklist in the film industry, preventing certain individuals from working in the business for years.


October 20, 1967 -
Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin reported that on this date they had captured a purported Sasquatch on film at Bluff Creek, California. This came to be known as the Patterson-Gimlin film, which is purported to be the best evidence of Bigfoot by many advocates.



If only that had named their film - Bigfoot: Americas Abominable Snowman, perhaps it would have done better box office in it's opening weekend.

Many years later, Bob Heironimus, an acquaintance of Patterson's, claimed that he had worn an ape costume for the making of the film. Organizations such as Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization have suggested that that Heironimus himself is a fraud.


October 20, 1973 -
The Six Million Dollar Man premieres on ABC.

Six Million Dollar Man - Intro (Opening Theme)
by STARDUST72

They might have been able to re- build him better, stronger, faster but they should have spent some of the money on Lee Majors' acting abilities.


October 20, 1973 -
The Saturday Night Massacre. Nixon fires Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus when they each refuse to fire special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox. Who was the man who finally fired Cox:



Robert Bork - it's that evil beard.


October 20, 1977 -
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bf/StreetSurvivorsFlames.jpg

En route to a gig at Louisiana State University, Lynyrd Skynyrd band members Ronnie Van Zandt and Steve Gaines are killed when their private plane runs out of fuel and crashes into a swamp in Gillsburg, Mississippi. Their record company MCA withdraws the flame-filled cover art for their ironically-named Street Survivors album.



Drunken frat boys everywhere mourn and cry out, "Play 'Freebird' man".



And so it goes.

New York's Mayoral election is 15 days away

Vote for real change



Yes, C. Montgomery Burns is a fictional character but at least he didn't get endorsed by Rudy 'For God Sake, don't for get 9/11' Guiliani (hey did I mention 9/11.)


October 19, 1966 -
Jon Favreau, actor, writer, director and well known fat guy was born on this date.



Jon, you and Vince should push away for the buffet table every now and then.


(This could be a senior moment, I'm not sure if I already posted these.)
I've found another 'Pre-made Trailer'. These are a pair of trailers for the secret Batman film directed by Orson Welles in the 40's but never released:





I've seen a perfect one that I can't seem to post so I don't want to spoil it by telling you about it - I'll keep searching for it somewhere else other than youtube.


I heard this singer yesterday, Melody Gardot and immediately had to hear everything she sang



Then I read Stephen Holden's article and was even more blown away. Run out and by her album (pefect music to listen to with that first martini once you get home from whereever it is you hang out until your first drink of the evening.)


Here's your Today in History:
October 19, 1879 -
Thomas A. Edison successfully demonstrates the electric light. (I've also seen the date as 10/21/79, 10/22/79, 10/25/79 & 11/03/79 - I'm guessing geniuses can't be bothered with little details like this.)



Unfortunately, it took several years to straighten out his first electric bill.


In the midst of the First World War, Salvation Army volunteers in France found themselves stymied by inadequate supplies and ovens for baking. Unable to prepare the cakes and and pies they so badly wanted to bake for the troops, they came up with the novel idea of frying rather than baking the dough.

This resulted in the appearance of the world's first donut on October 19, 1917.


The donut should not be confused with the bagel, despite their physical resemblance. The bagel is boiled and baked, whereas the donut is fried.



Bagels are found in varieties such as onion, garlic, salt, poppy-seed, and sesame-seed, and are frequently consumed with cheese and fish.

Donuts are found in varieties such as glazed, chocolate, chocolate-frosted, strawberry-frosted, powdered, jelly-filled, and sprinkled.

They are rarely consumed with cheese or fish, but they go pretty damn well with coffee.


October 19, 1982 -
Maverick carmaker John DeLorean is arrested in Los Angeles with $24M worth of cocaine in his suitcase.



The case is later thrown out of court when a judge rules that the FBI sting operation constituted entrapment.



And so it goes

It's Alaska Day, don'tcha know.

Alaska Day is a legal holiday in the U.S. state of Alaska, observed on October 18.


It is the anniversary of the formal transfer of the Territory of Alaska from Russia to the United States which took place at a flag-raising ceremony at Fort Sitka on October 18, 1867.

Grapholagnia: noun. the urge to look at pornography. Ferd thought he had his grapholagnia under control but he fell into a dead faint when passing the the local peep show; there, plastered in the window, was every issue of 'Hot File Clerks in Tubs of Pudding".


Today in History:
October 18, 1767 -
The border between Maryland and Pennsylvania was settled. Dubbed the Mason-Dixon line, it became the unofficial boundary between North and South.



Bad confederates, bad.

October 18,1898 -
The United States took control of Puerto Rico one year after Spain had granted self-rule to the Caribbean nation. Since1917, people born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens. So class, that makes all Puerto Ricans - U.S. citizens.


We don't need green cards and we don't need to register. You can't imagine how many assholes have asked me over the years when did my grandparents become U.S. citizens. OK, I'll get off my soap box and stop foaming at the mouth.


October 18, 1931 -
Thomas Alva Edison, one of the most prolific inventors in history, forgot to file a patent on avoiding death so he died in West Orange, N.J., at the age of 84.



Bad Grim Reaper, bad.


October 18, 1945 -
The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for America's plutonium bomb, courtesy of secret agent Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.


Bad spy, bad spy.


October 18, 1959 -
The Soviet Union announced an unmanned space vehicle had taken the first pictures of the far side of the moon.



Remember kids, there is no dark side of the moon - it's all dark.


October 18, 1968 -
A police with the helpof two sniffer dogs, named Yogi and Boo-Boo, raid the apartment of John Lennon and Yoko Ono and finds a very small amount of pot. The couple is fined £150 .



Bad Beatle, bad Beatle.


October 18, 1974 -
The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, based loosely on Ed Gein's story opens in theatres. At the time of release, the film was so strongly criticized for its content that it was eventually banned in various countries around the world, including Australia and the United Kingdom.



Bad psycho killer, bad psycho killer.


October 18, 1974 -
The jury in the Watergate cover-up trial heard a tape recording in which U.S. President Richard Nixon told aide John Dean to try to stop the Watergate burglary investigation before it implicated White House personnel.


Bad Dick, bad.


October 18, 1984 -
U.S. President Ronald Reagan ordered an investigation of a CIA handbook for Nicaraguan rebels that suggested assassination as a political tactic.


Bad - oh forget it, he's dead.



And so it goes

It's the Sweetest Day (created by a midwestern syndicate)

No, it's not the celebration of the invention of Gin but it is an observance celebrated on the third Saturday in October. While it is not as large or widely observed as Valentine's Day, it is still celebrated in parts of the United States, despite persistent allegations of being a "Hallmark holiday."


I say celebrate by NOT burning down your local Hallmark store (but think it in your mind.)

I can't believe that I nearly forgot -

To those readers who celebrate today's "Festival of Lights",



Happy Dawali.


Today in History:
The Sixth Crusade ended on this date in 1244 after the Saracens ("Infidels") defeated the Franks ("Infidels") at Gaza. But you know after the Fourth Crusade, I just stop counting.

October 17, 1777 -
At one of the turning points of the American Revolution,


British Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered to American Gen. Horatio Gates at Saratoga, N.Y.


October 17, 1967 -
The play Hair, full of dancing naked people, unshaved armpits, and body odor, opens at the 299-seat Anspacher Theater on Broadway. At the time, the musical's depiction of the use of illegal drugs, sexuality, profanity, its irreverence for the American flag, and its nude scene caused much comment and controversy.



The musical broke new ground in musical theatre by defining the genre of the "rock musical", utilizing a racially-integrated cast, and by inviting the audience onstage for a "Be-in" finale.


October 17, 1939 -
In the year that is considered the apex of the Golden age of Hollywood, Frank Capra's contribution, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was released on this date.



This was the role of a lifetime for Jimmy Steward (at the time) and it cemented his All-American wholesome imagine. I have a different read on his character and perhaps many of Steward's characters. There is something almost psychotic about his determination and ernestness. Go back and watch the film.


October 17, 1944 -
The little known and under appreciated drama directed by Clifford Odets, None But the Lonely Heart, was released on this date.



This was Cary Grant's favorite film role. Unfortunately, the public always typecasting Grant as either the Romantic or Comic lead, didn't buy him in this dramatic role and the film flopped.


October 17, 1979 -
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a Roman Catholic nun who cared for the sick and poor, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.


But what she really wanted to do was direct.


October 17, 1984 -
The New York Times runs an article entitled "CIA Primer Tells Nicaraguan Rebels How to Kill." The story describes the secret manual Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare which the CIA furnished to the Contras in Nicaragua.


The booklet instructed how to kidnap and assassinate civil officials, such as judges and police.

Barnes and Noble no longer sells the primer and you cannnot back order it.

Sorry.


October 17, 1986 -
Congress passed a landmark immigration bill, the first U.S. law authorizing penalties for employers who hire illegal aliens.



Green card, I don't gotta show you no stinking green card.


October 17, 1989 -
The Loma Prieta earthquake strikes the San Francisco Bay Area, killing 67 and causing billions in property damage. The 6.9 magnitude temblor manages to collapse a long section of the double-decker I-880 freeway, smushing motorists between the two layers. Part of the Bay Bridge also collapses.



Worst of all, the quake postpones the third World Series game.



And so it goes

The Cat Piano

The Cat Piano is a tale about a city of singing cats is preyed upon by a shadowy figure intent on performing a twisted feline symphony.



Here's a great piece of animation set to a poem by Eddie White. It's not the greatest poem ever written but a brilliantly sneaky way to get your kids to read poetry.

http://catpianofilm.com/media/#poem

Enjoy

The word of the day is:
Stiricide: noun, falling of icicles from a house. The icy quiet after the storm was shattered by Mrs. Witherbottoms shrieks. Sprawled out under the eaves, blood, now congealed and frozen, masking his face, was Mr. Wetwilly - a clear victim of stiricide.


Here's your Today in History:
On this date in 1792 (or 1799), there was baptised in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, a boy named Francisco Morazàn. He was young, like most newborns, and full of idealism. After a disappointing childhood, in which he turned out not to have been born to wealth and privilege, he decided first to educate himself and then to enlist in the fight against Mexican annexation of Honduras.


After a disappointing loss, in which Honduras turned out to be a part of Mexico even though neither of them was any longer a part of Spain, Morazàn joined the government of the United Provinces of Central America. Two years later he was the president of the Honduras State legislature, and the following year he became president of the entire United Provinces by means of the traditional Central American electoral process ("civil war").

As president, he tried to limit the powers of the Roman Catholic Church, which eventually led to a new round of elections ("civil wars") that produced a new president, this time from the State of Guatemala. The new president exiled Morazàn, who returned several years later calling for electoral reform ("revolution") and was therefore impeached ("shot in the head") by one of his own troops.

It's a holiday in Honduras today.


But it is not a holiday in Guatemala.


Or Mexico.




Also, Deposed French queen Joséphe Jeanne Marie Antoinette sits in an open cart, enduring hours of public ridicule as she is slowly driven around the streets of Paris, on this day in 1793.


Finally, she is taken to the guillotine. Before she loses her head, Antoinette tells the crowd: "Farewell, my children, forever. I go to your Father."



She wasn't having a good day.


It's also the birthday of Oscar Wilde (1854), known for his barbed wit, was one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London, and one of the greatest celebrities of his day.


In between bouts of buggery, he found time to write the following passage in The Picture of Dorian Gray: "Humanity takes itself too seriously. It is the world's original sin. If the caveman had known how to laugh, History would have been different." Unfortunately for Oscar, had he fled England in the spring of 1895, his history would have been different.



I believe that cavemen did indeed know how to laugh, and that people who accuse humanity of being too serious obviously aren't paying attention. Voluminous scientific research has incontrovertibly proven that we are the only species to giggle at one other's farts.



I reminds you that our lives are haphazard accidents in an indifferent world and that the very absurdity of life is what gives it the most meaning. Burp. Laugh.

Ignore the serious bastards (and remember that we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.)


October 16, 1946 -
At Nuremberg, Germany, 10 high-ranking Nazi officials were executed by hanging for World War II war crimes.



Hermann Goering, founder of the Gestapo and chief of the German air force,


was to have been among them but he committed suicide in his cell the night before.

That must have been some neck stretching party.


October 16, 1964 -
China detonated its first atomic bomb.



For god sakes, please tip the delivery guys a hell of a lot more.


October 16, 1972 -
A light plane carrying House Democratic leader Hale Boggs of Louisiana (the most outspoken and critical member of the Warren Commission) and three other men was reported missing in Alaska. The plane was never found.


Perhaps if they had that bridge to nowhere, they would have found them.


October 16, 1984 -
Black Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa won the Nobel Peace Prize for his struggle against apartheid.


Sometimes, the good guys win.


And so it goes

R.I.P. Captain Lou Albano

Captain Lou Albano, former 1996 WWE Hall of Fame wrestler, manager, Cyndi Lauper's 'Dad' and Super Mario passed away at the age of 76.

Cyndi Lauper - New Music - More Music Videos

It's the second annual Global Handwashing Day


Global Handwashing Day is a campaign to motivate and mobilize millions around the world to wash their hands with soap, the campaign is dedicated to raising awareness of handwashing with soap as a key approach to disease prevention. Remember, recent studies have found up to 60% of the people leaving public restrooms have not washed their hands.

Remind me not to eat the free mints from the diner this afternoon.


Today's word of the day:
Gleimous: adjective, slimy, full of phlegm. Lauren was fond of dairy products and was therefore very gleimous.


Here's Today in History -
Today is St Teresa of Avila Day in Spain and Evacuation Day in Tunisia, I felt I had to know more. It turns out that Evacuation Day recognizes the important contributions made to the world of science by Tunisian proctologists. The less said about the gastroenterological rituals performed on this holiday the better.


Saint Teresa of Avila (one of my favorite saints, as this is the second mention of her this year) is also known as the Roving Nun (but should not be confused with the Wandering Nun, the Meandering Nun, or the Hopelessly Disoriented Nun). In case you still don't know who this Saint is - she's the one who was repeatedly pierced by God's golden shaft of light, again and again. She is the patron saint not only of Spain, but also bodily ills, headaches, laceworkers, opposition to Church Authorities, and people ridiculed for their piety.



She died in the arms of her close friend Anne of Saint Bartholomew, allegedly from Transverberation ("the crossing of verbs"). Her pierced heart is on display at Alba de Tormes, so if you're the kind of person that's interested in 400-year-old pierced human hearts you'll probably want to pay a visit. (You'll probably find it in the "Pierced Human Hearts Room" of the "Three-to-Five Hundred Year Old Internal Organ Wing.")

Joan Osborne - St Teresa - TS3.dkly`
Uploaded by Superpatri. - See the latest featured music videos.

Saint Teresa famously said , "There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers", (Truman Capote took this quote very seriously.) "God," she famously prayed, "deliver me from sullen saints!"



Friedrich Nietzsche, who was born on this day in 1844, apparently shared her sentiments if not her tactics.


October 15, 1582 -
Finally, with the formal implementation of the Gregorian calendar by Pope Gregory XIII, this day actually exists in Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. The calendar jumped from October 4 directly by October 15. People are generally relieved but never quite get over the feeling that they missed something during those 11 days.


October 15, 1940 -
Two of the most famous men in the world, not only had superficially similar looks, most famously their mustaches, but were born only four days apart in April of 1889 and both grew up in relative poverty. One of them decides to take a hugh risk and release a film taking advantage of this freakish similarity.



The Great Dictator, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, released on this date, bitterly satirizes Nazism and Adolf Hitler, culminating in an overt political plea to defy fascism. The film is exceptional in its period, in the days prior to American entry into World War II, as the United States was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany. Well before the full extent of the horrors of Nazism had been uncovered, Chaplin's film advanced a stirring, controversial condemnation of Hitler, fascism, and the Nazis, the latter of whom he excoriates in the film as "machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts".


October 15, 1951 -
A former starlet convinced the alcoholic, womanizing head of a television network to run the TV version of her somewhat successful radio program. I Love Lucy, the television situation comedy, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, also featuring Vivian Vance and William Frawley, goes on to run on CBS for 181 episodes (including the "lost" Christmas episode and original pilot).



Then, the show introduced three more seasons, running from 1957 to 1960, known as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (while Ball and Arnez go through an acrimonious divorce). I Love Lucy won five Emmy Awards and received numerous nominations. In 2002, it was ranked #2 on TV Guide's top 50 greatest shows of all time, behind Seinfeld and ahead of The Honeymooners. In 2007, it was placed on Time Magazine's (unranked) list of "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME".



I Love Lucy was the most-watched show in the United States in four of its six seasons, and was the first to end its run at the top of the ratings (to be matched only by The Andy Griffith Show and Seinfeld), although it did not have a formal series finale episode. Episodes of I Love Lucy are still syndicated in dozens of languages across the world.


October 15, 1964 -
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was too busy pounding his shoe at every official meeting to realize that he was ousted


and replaced by Alexei Kosygin and Leonid Brezhnev.


October 15, 1990 -
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev gives up the practice of shoe banging practices of the Soviet Premier all together


and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.


October 15, 1991 -
Despite sexual harassment allegations by Anita Hill, The Senate confirmed Judge Clarence Thomas as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by a vote of 52-48, the closest confirmation vote in court history.


Sorry but there's nothing funny I can say about this as we're stuck with this guy until heart disease or stroke carry him away.


October 15, 2002 -
Former ImClone Chief Executive Officer Samuel Waksal pleaded guilty to insider trading as part of an ongoing investigation into the trading of shares from his biotech company, which also involved home decor diva and Waksal friend Martha Stewart.


And that wasn't a good thing for her.


And so it goes

I guess Arnold will be sleeping on the couch.

Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is calling out his wife, Maria Shriver, for apparently violating a state law he signed — holding her cell phone while driving.

The celebrity Web site TMZ.com posted two photographs Tuesday showing Shriver holding a phone to her ear while she's behind the wheel. It says one was snapped Sunday and the other in July.


The Web site later added a video it said was shot Tuesday in Brentwood, where the family lives. It shows Shriver holding a cell phone to her ear while driving a large SUV that appears to be a Cadillac Escalade. She then puts the phone down while the camera is rolling. (I feel dirty playing a video from TMZ.)

The first lady's office said it would have no comment.

Maybe Bill Clinton can make up another bed in the house (since Dave Letterman is also on his couch.)

October 14, 1953 -
Possibly the ultimate film noir, Fritz Lang's The Big Heat opens in NYC on this date.



The main thing is to have the money. I've been rich and I've been poor. Believe me, rich is better.


Today's word of the day
Cacatory: adj, followed by a bout of diarrhea. For the diners, the effects of the Activia yogurt shake and chocolate prune souffle, alas, were cacatory.


Today in History:
October 14, 1651 -
Massachusetts passed laws prohibiting the poor from dressing excessively, on this date.


It was felt that persons of limited means should save their money and learn to get by with simple vinaigrettes.


October 14, 1893-
Lillian Diana Gish, American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987, was born on this date. She was a prominent film star of the 1910s and 1920s, particularly associated with the films of director D.W. Griffith, including her leading role in Griffith's seminal Birth of a Nation (1915). Her sound-era film included a memorable role in the 1955 cult thriller Night of the Hunter. She closed her career in the 1987 film The Whales of August.



It would be difficult to brief sum up this brilliant actress' career, but the always cantankerous Bette Davis may have paid her the ultimate back-handed compliment. Complaining about her co-star in the "Whales of August", Miss Davis was reported to have said, "How can I compete with her in a scene, she invented the goddamn close-up."


October 14, 1912 -
Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, campaigning for a return to office, was shot in Milwaukee by a saloonkeeper named John Schrank.


What saves Teddy was the bullet lodged in Roosevelt's chest only after hitting both his steel eyeglass case and a copy of his speech he was carrying in his jacket. Roosevelt declined suggestions that he go to the hospital, and delivered his scheduled speech.


He spoke vigorously for ninety minutes. His opening comments to the gathered crowd were, "I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose." Afterwards, doctors determined that he was not seriously wounded and that it would be more dangerous to attempt to remove the bullet than to leave it in his chest. Roosevelt carried it with him until he died.


Teddy Roosevelt, superhero.


October 14, 1917 -
The German spy Mata Hari, a Dutchwoman named Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, was executed by the French on this date. There wasn't much actual evidence of espionage, but she had been seen naked with German officers and the French considered this distasteful enough to kill her.



(I think I continue to kill her off at various dates this year. Sorry about that Margaretha.)


October 14, 1944 -
Field Marshal Rommel (James Mason) of Germany was visited by two of Hitler's personal staff.



They informed him that he was suspected of involvement in the July 20th plot to assassinate the Fuhrer and that he would therefore be required either to (a) stand trial and die, or (b) just die. They brought some poison along to facilitate his decision.

Hitler always liked him.


October 14, 1947 -
American pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in a rocket-powered airplane, on this date. Yeager insisted it was already broken and consequently refused to repair it despite repeated admonitions by his mother.



It remains broken to this day. (The sound barrier should not be confused with the Long Island Sound barrier, sometimes referred to as the Throg's Neck Bridge.)


October 14, 1959 -
Actor and Nazi sympathizer Errol Flynn, dubbed "the most despicable human being yet born" (and that was by a friend), dies of a heart attack in Vancouver. Flynn reported slept anything with a pulse including (but not limited to) Truman Capote, Howard Hughes, as well as countless Hollywood starlets.



Presumably, not at the same time.



And so it goes

It's bizarrely beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

My kids told me last night that a local store was putting up decorations for Christmas. I thought they were mistakes. Nut, as I made my way to work this morning the Pier One on our corner was festooned with holly and garland.

So with that, there are 73 days until Christmas (60 days til Hannukah) - let the reduced shopping orgy begin!

Today's word of the day:
Seplasiary: noun, seller or producer of perfumes and ointments. Even though Pepe Le Pew went searching for un skunk de femme in the seplasiary's shop, business still fell off for months.


October 13, 1959 -
Olive Marie Osmond, actress, singer, doll designer, Nutrisystem junkie and Osmonds family survivor, was born on this date.



Hey let's all cut Marie a break, she's had to deal with Donnie her whole life.


October 13, 1950 -
Joseph L. Mankiewicz's brilliantly caustic valentine to Broadway, All About Eve premiered in NYC on this date.



You won't bore him, honey - you won't even get a chance to talk.


Here's your Today in History -
October 13, 54 -
Roman Emperor Claudius I (Derek Jacobi) consumes a favorite mushroom dish prepared by his fourth wife, Agrippina. What he does not know is that the meal is laced with the toxin of the Amanita phalloides mushroom. Feeling ill the next morning, Claudius summons his personal physician. Unfortunately, the doctor happens to be a co-conspirator in the scheme, administering a colocynth enema which kills Claudius instantly.



So remember kids, avoid all doctor prescribed poisoned enemas.

October 13, 1947 -
Kids, a lifetime ago there was a very popular TV series featuring two puppets and a very polite lady that ad-libbed the entire show - A version of what ultimately became 'Kukla, Fran and Ollie' premieres on this date.



If you're of a certain ago, you can just about remember Kukla, Fran and Ollie hosting the CBS Children's Film Festival.


October 13, 1792-

It was on this day in Washington D.C. that the cornerstone was laid for the presidential residence, now known as the White House. The Frenchman, Pierre L'Enfant, who designed Washington, D.C. wanted the residence to look like the palace of Versailles. George Washington thought that was a little too fancy, so he got an Irish architect named James Hoban to reduce the design to one-fifth of its original size. Washington laid the cornerstone and supervised the construction. John Adams was the first president to call it home.


People nicknamed it the White House from the very beginning. There was a coat of whitewash brushed on the sandstone to protect it against winter. Thomas Jefferson was the one who installed flushing toilets. Andrew Jackson got the first shower. Martin Van Buren brought in central heating. Rutherford B. Hayes introduced the telephone. Benjamin Harrison had it wired for electricity. President Truman brought in the first TV set.


October 13, 1972 -

Due to poor visibility, a Uruguayan Air Force plane carrying the Montevideo Old Christians Rugby Club crashes high in the Chilean Andes. Of the 45 people aboard the flight, only 27 survive the crash, and just 16 make it to their rescue 72 days later.



How did they do it? Cannibalism. According to one survivor, "the slight browning of the flesh gave it an immeasurably better flavor, softer than beef but with much the same taste."

So there you go - it doesn't taste just like chicken.

October 13, 1988 -
A report published in the journal Nature declares the Turin shroud to be a 13th century fake.


Although carbon-14 testing places the shroud's fabrication somewhere between 1260 and 1390 AD, true believers spend much of the next several years attempting to explain away the radiocarbon test results.


And so it goes.

Happy Beginning of European Colonization Day in the New World

October 12, 1492 -

Christopher Columbus, not the brightest bulb in the explorers club, reached America, making his first landing in the New World on one of the Bahamas Islands.



Columbus believed he had reached India.

Today's word of the day:
Epalpebrate: adjective, lacking eyebrows. Although Bert was now epalpebrate, he kept his sense of humor about the barbecue accident.


Here's your Today in History -
October 12, 1915 -

British nurse Edith Cavell, 49, was executed by a German firing squad in Brussels for helping Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during World War I. The night before her execution she told the Anglican chaplain, Rev. Gahan, who had been allowed to see her, "Patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone." These words are inscribed on her statue in St. Martin's Place, near Trafalgar Square in London.

Her final words to the German pastor, Le Saur were recorded as 'Ask Mr. Gahan to tell my loved ones later on that my soul, as I believe, is safe, and that I am glad to die for my country.'

Pretty tough cookie.

October 12, 1960 -
Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupted a U.N. General Assembly session by pounding his desk with a shoe during a dispute.


This resulted in the popular stereotype of the Soviet Dictator who pounds his desk with his shoe.

In fact, many Soviet Dictators did not pound their desks with their shoes. They had their deputies do it for them.


October 12, 1966 -
This was a particularly busy date in history. Sammy Davis, Jr. makes a cameo appearance on the ABC television series Batman, during one of their legendary Batclimbs.



Rumors began in earnest, on this date, that Paul is dead. However, the Beatle somehow persists in making several public appearances for years.



Today, Vegas odds makers are making it even money that John and George, though, are definitely dead and not just holding their breath.


October 12, 1970 -
During his court martial for the My Lai Massacre, Lt. William Calley testifies that Cpt. Ernest Medina had ordered that anybody they couldn't move would be "wasted." Which is why Calley said he and his men killed 350 Vietnamese, including more than 100 civilian men, women, and children.

October 12, 1973 -
U.S. President Richard Nixon nominated House Minority Leader Gerald Ford for the vice presidency, under the 25th Amendment, to replace Spiro Agnew, who had resigned two days earlier.


Interestingly, Ford was on the Warren Commission investigating the Kennedy assassination.

I'm not saying that there is a connection but it gives you pause.


October 12, 1997 -
Folk singer John Denver dies when the small plane he was piloting crashed into Monterey Bay on the California coast.


Divers later recover most of the body, but not the head. Denver is ultimately identified by his fingerprints.

I guess you really didn't want to know that part.



And so it goes

And yet another waking dream

Here's another clip of "Royal de Luxe" - the Sultan's Elephant.



This troupe has to come to America. Somebody get on this right away.


Today's word of the day -
Mingent: adjective, discharging urine. My dear mingent man, could you please aim the other way - you're soaking my pant leg?

Here's your Today in History -
October 11, 1899 -
The Bores of South Africa declared war on Great Britain in the hopes of generating interest, on this date.


(The war should not be confused with the Boar War, which had been cancelled on account of tusks.)


October 11, 1910 -
Ex-president Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. He flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright Brothers at Kinloch Field (Lambert-St. Louis International Airport), St. Louis, Missouri.



He was having such a good time, they had to club him like a baby seal to get him out of the plane.

Bully.


October 11, 1952 -
Referee Francis DeReus halts the college football match between Wesleyan and Dubuque because of the profanity spewing from Dubuque's coach, Maco Mercer. DeReus tossed coach and team from the game, and called the game because of profanity. The final score was Iowa Wesleyan 1, Dubuque 0. History does not record which vulgarities were involved.

Wanna guess?


October 11, 1961 -
Leonard Marx, Chico, one of the Marx Brothers, died on this date. Chico Marx was a compulsive womanizer, and had a lifelong gambling habit. His addiction cost him millions of dollars by his own account. When an interviewer asked him how much money he'd lost from gambling, he answered, "Find out how much money Groucho's got. That's how much I've lost." Gummo Marx, in an interview years after Chico's death, said, "Chico's favorite people were actors who gambled, producers who gambled, and women who screwed."



Chico's lifelong gambling addiction compelled him to continue in show business long after his brothers had retired in comfort from their Hollywood income, and in the early 40s he found himself playing in the same small, cheap halls he had begun his career in 30 years previously.



For a while in the 1930s and 1940s Chico led a big band.


Singer Mel Tormé began his professional career singing with the Chico Marx Orchestra.


October 11, 1975 -
Cold open of a new TV program:



And so began the long running (some say too long running) comedy variety show, with George Carlin as its host, it was called NBC's Saturday Night, because ABC featured a program at the same time titled Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. After ABC canceled the Cosell program in 1976, the NBC program changed its name to Saturday Night Live on March 26, 1977. The first episode featured two musical guests Billy Preston (Nothing From Nothing & Fancy Lady ) and Janis Ian (At Seventeen & In The Winter).


October 11, 1976 -

The Gang of Four were arrested in Peking, on this date. Their first album, "Entertainment!" is released two years later.



After re-education, eventually, so are they.


October 11, 1978 -
Former Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman) stabs girlfriend Nancy Spungeon (Chloe Webb) to death in room 100 of New York's Chelsea Hotel. Because Sid remembers nothing about the crime, theories include robbery and an abortive suicide pact. Vicious dies of an ugly heroin overdose shortly before his trial.



Folks, there are no pretty heroin overdoses.

October 11, 1981 -
Andy Kaufman successfully defends his World Intergender Wrestling Champion title in Atlantic City, by defeating Playboy magazine's Miss September, pinning her at the 18-minute mark.





And so it goes

Imagine if Terry Gilliam directed your waking dreams.

"Royal de Luxe" a French troupe of giant puppets came to Berlin to celebrate the Day of German Unification from 2nd to 4th of october. Two giants, walking through Berlin - one coming from the east, one from the west of Berlin, to finally meet and unite at the Brandenburger Tor ..and to leave the city again, together.



Go to youtube and watch some more of this event - it's amazing.

then look for another event the "Royal de Luxe" did - the Suktan's Elephant - equally brilliant.

Today's word: Crassulent: adjective, very fat, overweight, grossly obese. The crassulent Republican candidate for Governor bounded onto the stage and bounced several of the children in the choir into the laps of the horrified audience members.

Today in History:
October 10, 1780 -
Over 48 hours, a slow-moving hurricane decimates Barbados, killing 4,326 (however according to the island's governor, "fortunately few people of consequence were among the number").



Over the next week, the catastrophic storm system moves on to Martinique (9,000 dead) and St. Eustatius (4-5,000). The unprecedented Great Hurricane of 1780 remains the deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record.


October 10, 1910 -
Tau Epsilon Phi (TEF, commonly pronounced "TEP") is a predominantly American fraternity with approximately 40 active chapters, chiefly located at universities and colleges in the Northeastern United States. The organization was founded on October 10, 1910, by ten Jewish men at Columbia University, as a response to the existence of similar organizations who would not admit Jewish members. The national headquarters is currently located in Voorhees, New Jersey and the official colors of the organization are lavender and white (although most chapters use purple instead of lavender).



Why is is important. Several of the readers and I (and well as George Stephanopoulos) are members of this fraternity. And you thought "The Skull and Bones" Society rules this country.


October 10, 1911 -
The Chinese revolution began in Hankow, on this date. The revolution spread rapidly, resulting in the abdication of six-year-old Henry Pu-Yi, the Academy Award-winning "Last Emperor" of China.



On the same day, the Panama Canal was officially opened, resulting in a popular palindrome. No palindrome was developed for the Chinese revolution, and this would later result in civil war.

October 10, 1956 -
George Steven's sprawling epic, Giant, premiered in NYC on this date.



As everyone knows, James Dean died during the making of this film and his performance is the one most remembered; check out Elizabeth Taylor's nuanced work throughout the film.


October 10, 1962 -
The British Broadcasting Company bans "Monster Mash" -- the Halloween-themed novelty tune by Bobby "Boris" Pickett -- for being "offensive."



The BBC never specifies precisely what it is about the song that's problematic.


October 10, 1968 -
One of the silliest movies Jane Fonda (or anyone else for that matter) ever made, Barbarella, lands in US theatres on this date.



The film's missing scientist character famously inspired the band name of pop stars Duran Duran.



October 10, 1969 -
King Crimson releases their debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, considered by many to be the first progressive rock album.



Turn it up loud, spark it up and don't bogart that joint.


October 10, 1973 -
Bribe-happy Vice President Spiro T. Agnew finally resigns, after pleading guilty to federal income tax evasion.



In addition to his venality, Agnew is chiefly remembered for this offhand remark during the 1968 campaign: "What's the matter with the fat Jap?"



It should be noted that humorist Dave Barry points out that one can rearrange the letters in "Spiro Agnew" to spell "Grow A Penis."


October 10, 1985 -


As to all, cheap wine hawker, voice-over whore and movie legend Orson Welles, whose remarkably innovative Citizen Kane of 1941 was named the best American-made picture of all time in a 1998 American Film Institute poll, died of a heart attack at the age of 70.




Yul Brynner, Russian-born, Academy Award-winning Broadway and Hollywood actor died on October 10, 1985 (the same day as Orson Welles, his co star in The Battle of Neretva) in New York City. The cause of death was lung cancer brought on by smoking. Throughout his life, Brynner was always seen with a cigarette in his hand. In January 1985, nine months before his death, he gave an interview on Good Morning America, expressing his desire to make an anti-smoking commercial.



The clip from that interview was made into just such a public service announcement by the American Cancer Society, and released after his death; it includes the warning "Now that I'm gone, I tell you, don't smoke." If only he listened to himself.



And so it goes