|
|
|
Posts Archived Under Cameras
Upside down? Right-side up?
Beats the hell out of us |
It's quiet this week. As we look over our files, we see little of consequence. We assume folks are still getting into an autumnal mood, but we persevere and submit herewith our own events and commemorations of the week.
Monday:
We begin the week by noting it's a big one for Thomas Edison. On this date in 1878, his company made electricity available for household usage. In 1931, on this day, he died, and Thursday marks the 131st anniversary of the demonstration of his first light bulb at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, now known as "Edison."
It's a notable week for other inventions, too. For example, in 1954, Texas Instruments introduced the transistor radio. Up until the '50s, radios were big bulky things, full of vacuum tubes and wires. With the invention of the transistor in 1947, it was suddenly possible to make radios, televisions, and pretty much anything electronic small and portable. The transistor radio came along just in time for post-war teenagers to carry rock and roll music anywhere, driving their parents and other adults crazy. And Friday will mark the anniversary of the creation of the first Xerox image in 1938. Before then, people actually had to write or type things on a sheet of paper to duplicate them. Now, plagiarism is only the push of a button away.
Speaking of "crazy," "The Talk" debuts on CBS today, featuring Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Leah Remini, Julie Chen, Holly Robinson Peete, and Marissa Jaret Winokur in a show that's absolutely nothing like "The View." (We mention that it's also World Menopause Day - completely in passing ...)
While we've mentioned science, let's not forget art. In 1896, the world's first comic strip, "The Yellow Kid," debuted. It wasn't so much a "strip" as a daily cartoon featuring something outlandish in society that the otherwise-mute Kid would comment on with writing on his nighshirt. What he would have had to say about Henri Matisse's "Le Bateau," we can only imagine. It went on display at New York's Museum of Modern Art on this day in 1961 - and it wasn’t until 116, 000 viewers and 47 days had passed that someone noticed that the painting had been hanging upside down.
We finish by noting it's Alaska Day, commemorating the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States in 1867. (No jokes about seeing Russia from your house, please ...)
Tuesday:
Only two events of note today. One is the 1745 death of Jonathan Swift, the cleric, novelist, and satirist who gave us "Gulliver's Travels" (whence originated our corporate name) and "A Modest Proposal." One is tempted to hope he was eaten by cannibals, but, alas, he met his end via a stroke.
In 1945, Harris Glen Milstead was born in Baltimore. Glenn led an ordinary life until he met aspiring filmmaker John Waters, who cast him as "The Smoking Nun" in his film "Roman Candles," renaming him "Divine," the name he used the rest of his life. Divine was described by "People" magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century" (though was there that much competition?) and spent the rest of his career going from one outlandish role to another in Waters' films before his untimely death at the age of 42.
Wednesday:
We have three seasonal events today that are absolutely appropriately for this time of year. In 1967, Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin, took out their home-movie camera, photographed a guy in a gorilla suit, and claimed they’d filmed a Bigfoot. The veracity of the footage has been the subject of debate ever since, though we're prepared to say it's a fake.
In the otherwise-sleepy hamlet of Circleville, Ohio, the annual Circleville Pumpkin Show will begin its four-day run today. Since 1903, the festival has presented thousands of these flavorful squashes to an adoring public who come for the sculpting, bands, and beauty contests, but who stay for the World’s Largest Pumpkin Pie, baked fresh every year by Lindsey’s Bake Shop.
In 1882, Bela Blasko was born in Lugos, Romania. At 12, the stage-struck Bela dropped out of school, became an actor, and changed his last name to Lugosi. As Bela Lugosi, he was a matinee idol in his own country, before coming to America in 1921. He worked as a laborer and occasional actor until 1927, when his continental good looks and accent made him a natural for the title role in the Broadway production of “Dracula." While the play was a smash hit, and led to a Hollywood contract, his accent baffled casting directors, who could see him only as a romantic vampire, and he was soon type-cast in horror films. Despite some occasional “straight” roles (most notably in 1938’s "Ninotchka," his career quickly headed to not-very-good parts in B-pictures, usually parodying his image. He always gave his utmost, even when the material was sub-par, as in his final films with Ed Wood, Hollywood’s worst director. He died of a heart attack in 1956.
Thursday:
More unrelated (but still interesting) events for the day:
In 1849, the first tattooed man to be put on public exhibit, James F. O’Connel, was put on display at the Franklin Theatre in New York City. Not sure what more can be added to that.
Except perhaps noting that today is Reptile Awareness Day, so we encourage you to go out and be aware of some reptiles -- perhaps while enjoying a big plate of nachos, since it’s also the International Day of the Nacho.
Friday:
When we compile these lists, we’re overwhelmed with celebrations of "National This Day" and "International That Week," so imagine our surprise and disappointment when we discovered that one of our sources lists October 22 with this note: “There are no holiday events on record for this day,” Is it possible that only one day out of 365 is bereft of some kind of celebration? It may be true, though (alas!), as the only other events of note we could find are the 107th birthday of Stooge Jerome "Curly" Howard, and the fact that it’s International Stuttering Awareness Day.
Curly is probably the most popular of all the Stooges, combining a unique physical and vocal style into a characterization that was breathtakingly bold in the 1930s and has been a boon to adolescent boys (of all ages) in the decades since.
Saturday:
Looking for something fun to do today? We have three suggestions.
1) Celebrate the 80th anniversary of the world’s first miniature golf tournament in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The tournament was won by J.K. Scott, though the record neglects to state whether he was better shooting through the windmill or the castle.
2) If you’re near Oklahoma City, you might join the Ghouls Gone Wild celebration headlined by The Flaming Lips and participate in their annual March of 1000 Flaming Skeletons. Be warned, though, you’ve got to handle a live torch - and those costumes can be flammable.
3) You can celebrate Mole Day. The “Mole” is a method of counting the Avogadro number - 6.02 x 10 to the 23rd power of anything. Amodeo Avogadro discovered that the number of molecules in a mole is the same for all substances, which allows chemists are able to precisely measure quantities of chemicals in the lab. Mole Day is intended to help everyone become enthusiastic about chemistry. If you understood a word of that, the first two events may be too strenuous for you, so our advice is to stick with the chemistry.
Sunday:
To finish off the week, we’ll note the near-irony of it being the Feast of Good & Plenty, because yes, we had a number of good events this week, but not plenty of them.
It’s also World Origami Day, which somehow runs through November 11 (must be that those origami artists are able to fold time and space, as well as paper).
Speaking of folding, we also have to mention that, on this day in 1901, Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. How she didn’t end up folded herself is one of the miracles of the age - especially considering she did it to celebrate her 63rd birthday. She’d sent her cat over the falls in her specially-padded barrel the day before, and when the feline emerged unscathed, she figured it was safe enough for her. Mrs. Taylor suffered a cut on her head, but was otherwise unharmed, though she did tell the press, "If it was with my dying breath, I would caution anyone against attempting the feat. I would sooner walk up to the mouth of a cannon, knowing it was going to blow me to pieces than make another trip over the Falls."
If all the above sounds like a lot of baloney, we merely note the appropriateness of today being National Bologna Day, and leave you make up your own mind.
See you next time!
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Inventors, Talk Shows, Cult Movies, Cryptozoology, Candy |
|
Archived under: 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 19th Century, Actors, Alaska, American History, Animals, Anniversaries, Art Museums, Artists, Arts, Authors, Autumn, Beauty Pageants, Bela Lugosi, Biographies, Birthdays, Books, Brands, Broadway, Cameras, Candy, Cartoonists, Celebrations, Celebrities, Cities, Comic Strips, Conspiracies, Cover Ups, Creativity, Cross-dressing, Dead Celebrities, Delicatessen, Design, Disease, Eating, England, Entertainment, Events, Festivals, Fiction, Filmmaking, Food and Drink, Halloween, Health, History, Hoaxes, Holidays, Horror, Horror Films, Humor, In Character, Invention, Inventors, Issues and Causes, Jack-O-Lanterns, Literature, Media, Medicine, Men, Miniature Golf, Monsters and Creatures, Movies, Mysteries, Mythology and Folklore, New York, Nostalgia, Paranormal, Pink Flamingos, Pranks, Pumpkins, Radio, Rock and Roll, Scams, Science, Scientists, Small Towns, TV, Technology, The Three Stooges, Tourist Attractions, United States, Urban Legends, Vampires, Vegetables, Weird Stuff, Women, Writers, Writing, Yahoo! |
| Post a comment (2) | Email this posting |
The most famous shot in "A Trip to the
Moon." Special effects have gotten
slightly better in the century since. |
Welcome once more to The Spark, your weekly digest of events and happenings and information in the Yahoo! Directory to help you appreciate them more.
As we begin this last Spark before the Labor Day holiday, we have to ask just where in the heck the summer went. Seems like it was Memorial Day about five minutes ago, and now kids are back in school and Fall is lurking around the corner.
Anyway, let's look at the week ahead.
Monday:
It's a day for monsters and creators. In the former category, we have Benedict Arnold, who on this day in 1780, secretly promised to surrender the Continental Army's fort at West Point, NY, to the British. Arnold was an egomaniac, who was frustrated with the lack of attention he had received, and what better way to get attention than to commit treason?
Speaking of outsized egos, we note that today would have been the 127th birthday of Huey Long, the "Kingfish" who ran Louisiana like a private fiefdom until he was gunned down in 1935. Long ruled the state as both governor and senator, and his campaign slogan of "Every Man a King" mixed populism and fascism in equal measure.
But let us not mention only those who destroy, let's celebrate those who create. When thinking of monsters, one almost automatically turns to thoughts of Dr. Frankenstein and his creation, for which we owe thanks to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, born in 1793, she wrote her novel, "Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus," at the tender age of 18.
And where would kids (and parents) be today without Babar? Laurent de Brunhoff (born in 1925), is son of Jean de Brunhoff, who created the elephant king, and who continued his adventures when his father died.
Of course, those kids grow up to be teenagers and young adults, and where would they be without Robert Crumb, who turns 73 today? Crumb was in the vanguard of the underground comix movement of the 1960s, and he’s still active and creative, and his influence on modern pop culture is incalculable.
And what would pop culture be without the Beatles? One hesitates to guess, but you can try to get a handle on it this week at the International Beatle Week in Liverpool, England.
Of course, the Beatles played in the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York when they made their American debut in 1964, and that theatre is today home to the Late Show with David Letterman, which made its own debut in "the Ed" in 1993.
A nice contrast to end the day. Gazillionaire Warren Buffett hits the big 8-0 today, and out in the Nevada desert, Burning Man begins. The best thing we can say about Burning Man is that it gets all those people who want to go to Burning Man in one spot away from the rest of us.
Tuesday:
More monsters. In 12, Gaius Caligula was born. Though the surviving sources are incomplete, Caligula was one of the most notorious Roman emperors of them all, known for the stories of his cruelty, instability, and sexual perversion. (We won’t deal with them here, but you can find the stories easily enough.)
But Caligula isn't the only monster we note. On this date in 1888, Mary Ann Nichols was murdered and became the first of known victim of Jack the Ripper.
And, of course, in 1928, Berlin saw the premiere of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s "Die Dreigoschenoper" (known in English as "The Threepenny Opera"), with its main character, the vicious murderer Captain Macheath, better known as "Mack the Knife." In 1959, Bobby Darin had a huge hit with that song (which is really odd, when one considers it's about a mass murderer killing people), and Friday will see the 51st anniversary of that song being banned by WCBS radio in New York City. At the time, there had been a series of teenage stabbings in the city, and the station didn't want to those crazy teens any ideas.
And while marijuana possession is small potatoes compared to all of the above, we see that, in 1948, actor Robert Mitchum was arrested in a Hollywood drug bust, and was eventually sentenced to 60 days in prison, a scandal which in those days threatened to kill his career, but nowadays would rate only a passing mention on "Entertainment Tonight."
All this talk of criminals and murderers makes us long for a hero, and fortunately, in 1942, "The Adventures of Superman" radio series began airing on the Mutual Broadcasting System.
Wednesday:
All we have for today is that in 1902, George Melies’s "A Trip to the Moon," was released in France and became the world’s first science fiction film.
Thursday:
So, in 490 BCE, the Athenian army was at Marathon, battling with Persia. The herald Pheidippides was sent to Sparta for help. He ran the 150 miles in two days, but because of religious laws, the Spartans couldn't send any help, so he ran back. In spite of not having the extra troops, Athens won the battle. And poor Phidippides took off again, this time running the 26.2 miles from Marathon to Athens to carry the news of the victory. He gasped out his last words, "We have won," and dropped dead of exhaustion. The lesson: do not underestimate the usefulness of warm-ups and warm-downs.
In 1666, the Great Fire of London began in the wooden house of King Charles II's baker. By the time it ended three days later, more than 13,000 houses, including St Paul's Cathedral, had burned to the ground -- but amazingly, only six people had died.
If you were living in England in 1752, tomorrow would have been September 14th. While most of the rest of the world had switched from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar in 1582, the stubborn Brits had stuck to their guns. But, after nearly 200 years, there was an eleven-day discrepancy between the two calendars, and the English had no choice but to convert. There were actual riots, as people cried, "Give us back our eleven days!" But it was to no avail. Great Britain and her colonies were dragged kicking and screaming into the 18th century.
Speaking of fighting against reality, in 1934, singer Russ Columbo accidentally shot himself to death. Columbo was a wildly popular singer and actor, and when he killed himself (with an antique gun that was supposedly unloaded), his friends thought the news would prove fatal to his mother, so for the last years of her life, those friends created an elaborate ruse, sending postcards and letters from far-off locations, and using his records to simulate a radio show. In 1944, Mrs. Columbo died, never suspected that her son had died a decade before.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday:
Let's talk about pioneers this weekend.
First, there's Louis Sullivan, born in 1856. Sullivan is, for all intents and purposes, the man who invented the skyscraper. Since Chicago had had its own giant fire in 1871, Sullivan had the opportunity and the laboratory to erest steel-framed buildings that towered over anything built before.
In 1833, 10-year-old Barney Flaherty answered an ad in "The New York Sun" and became the first world's first newsboy, which is why we celebrate Newspaper Carrier Day today -- at least for those relatively few Americans who still have newspapers carried to them.
Sunday would have been the 163rd birthday of Jesse James. Jesse was not the first Western outlaw, but he was the first to become world famous while plying his dubious trade.
1885 saw the opening of the Exchange Buffet in New York City. It was the first self-service restaurant (read, "cafeteria") in the United States. We don't know if they served chocolate (we'd guess yes), but whether they did or not, it's World Chocolate Day Friday, so you can serve yourself and indulge.
In 1888, George Eastman registered the trademark "Kodak" (for the clicking sound a camera's shutter makes) and received a patent for his camera that used rolled film. Eastman's "Brownie" camera came from the factory loaded with enough film for 100 photos. When the roll was complete, the customer would mail the whole camera back to the factory in Rochester, NY, where the pictures would be developed and sent back along with a new camera.
Sunday is the 81st birthday of comedian Bob Newhart. Newhart is a two-time pioneer, having been in the forefront of the stand-up comedy revolution of the 1950s, when he transformed himself from "button-down accountant" to a comedian with the top-selling album in America. Then, in the '70s, his sitcom, "The Bob Newhart Show," set new standards for writing, ensemble acting, and just plain goofiness.
The weekend before Labor Day always marks the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. While it's easy to criticize the telethon for its corniness and out-of-date show business aesthetic, it's impossible to deny Lewis's commitment and ability to raise money -- nearly a billion-and-a-half dollars since 1966.
Lastly, we'll note the 98th birthday of the late avant-garde composer John Cage with 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence.
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Revolutionary War, Children's Literature, Rock and Pop Artists, Musicals, Running |
|
Archived under: 17th Century, 18th Century, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 19th Century, Actors, American History, Ancient History, Anniversaries, Architects, Architecture, Artists, Arts, Athletes, Authors, Berlin, Birthdays, Books, Buildings, Burning Man, Business, Calendars, Cameras, Cartoonists, Celebrations, Celebrities, Chicago, Children´s Literature, Classical Music, Comedians, Comic Books, Comics, Communities, Composers, Conspiracies, Contemporary Art, Counterculture, Crime, Criminals, Cultures, David Letterman, Dead Celebrities, Dictators, Ed Sullivan, England, Entertainment, Europe, European History, Events, Exercise, Festivals, Fiction, Fire, Fitness, Food and Drink, Germany, Gunslingers, History, Holidays, Huey Long, Invention, Inventors, Jack the Ripper, John Lennon, Law Enforcement, Literature, London, Martin and Lewis, Media, Millionaires, Monsters and Creatures, Movies, Murder, Music, Music History, Musicals, Mythology and Folklore, New York, News, Newspapers, Nostalgia, Old West, Performing Arts, Philanthropy, Photography, Radio, Regional, Restaurants, Rock and Roll, Rome, Running, Scandals, Science Fiction, Serial Killers, Silent Movies, Singers, Skyscrapers, Society and Culture, Superheroes, Superman, TV, The Beatles, The West, Theatres, U.K. History, United Kingdom, United States, Unsolved Crimes, Urban Legends, Variety Shows, Vintage, War, Weird Stuff, Westerns, Women, Writers, Writing |
| Post a comment (5) | Email this posting |
Don't even think of throwing
a tomato at Klaatu |
Welcome back to The Spark, your weekly guide to Yahoo! Directory resources for the week's events. It’s not a jam-packed week, we’ll admit, but in the words of Spencer Tracy, there’s not much meat on it, "but what’s there is cherce."
Monday:
In the late 1890s, Fannie Farmer wrote a wildly-popular and influential cookbook; a book which virtually guaranteed results by standardizing measurements. On this day in 1902, she opened her own cooking school, "Mrs. Farmer's School of Cookery," beginning a mania for cooking, food, and recipes in America that continues to this day.
In 1912, dancer Gene Kelly was born in Pittsburgh. Kelly was (in our opinion) the second-greatest dancer in the golden age of movie musicals. Not content to be merely a hoofer, Kelly soon moved into co-directing (with Stanley Donen) his films in an attempt to make dance in film not just entertainment, but art. And in such films as "Singin' in the Rain," "The Pirate," and "An American in Paris," he succeeded.
As popular as Kelly was, his fame paled in comparison to that of Rudolph Valentino, though. Valentino emigrated from Italy in 1913 with virtually no money, and by 1921, he was one of the biggest stars in the history of the movies, and certainly one of the greatest screen lovers ever. He died of peritonitis in 1926, setting off a frenzy that makes Michael Jackson's death look like a chamber of commerce picnic. 100,000 people showed up at the funeral, and when the body was taken to Los Angeles by train, probably hundreds of thousands more turned out in hopes of getting a look at the coffin.
Two championships this week, one ending and one beginning. In Las Vegas, the Miss Universe pageant will name its winner (still no word if extraterrestrials will show up), and in Paris, the World Badminton Championships will begin in an attempt to find the greatest shuttlecock artist of them all.
Tuesday:
A day for noting historical events. In 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted in Italy, with an explosive force some 10,000 times the force of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. Although the explosion wiped out the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, it was a boon for modern archaeologists, since those cities were almost perfectly preserved in cocoons of lava and ash.
In 1456, Johannes Gutenberg finished printing his first edition of the Bible. That Bible was double-edged: movable type made knowledge easier to disseminate to the masses, but those masses couldn’t afford to buy such expensive books.
Speaking of double edges, in 1891, Thomas Edison applied for a patent for the movie camera, but it couldn’t have been of much use, since he didn't apply for the patent for film until 1897.
In other patent news, in 1869, Cornelius Swarthout received his for inventing the waffle iron, making sure Southerners can enjoy breakfasts any time of the day. And while they were never patented, it was around this day in 1853, that Native American Chef George Crum invented potato chips at Moon's Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York. (Which is why you'll still sometimes see them referred to as "Saratoga chips."
And if you want a way to work off the calories from all those waffles and chips, you can emulate Duke Kahanamoku, whose 120th birthday this is. Kahanamoku was the native Hawaiian native who, if he didn't invent surfing, certainly popularized it.
Wednesday:
More food events today. In Buñol, Spain, La Tomatina begins, as thousands gather to, yes, throw tomatoes at each other. Why this is considered a good idea, we can't say. For those in a mood for a less-messy celebration, we point you to Mitchell, SD, where the annual Corn Palace Festival kicks off with a concert by Kenny Rogers. Every year, Mitchellites decorate their Moorish "Corn Palace" with husks of corn to create fabulous edible murals. This year’s theme is "Through the Ages."
In birthdays today, we begin with two men who are best known for two sentences. The first is actor Michael Rennie (1909). Rennie had a reasonably distinguished film career after World War II, but it was his appearance in 1951's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" that cemented his iconic status. Starring as the alien Klaatu, his instructions to the late Patricia Neal to give to the robot Gort, "Klaatu Barada Nikto," are known to even those who never saw the movie. The second is Walt Kelly (1913). In the 1950s and '60s, it would have been hard to find any American who was better-known than Kelly. A writer and cartoonist, he created the "Pogo" comic strip that, for years, poked fun at American society and politics. In 1970, to commemorate the first Earth Day, he pictured the strip's eponymous possum hero confronting the disaster his swamp home had become and proclaimed, "We have met the enemy, and he is us ..."
Two other birthdays are for men who are known for their overall bodies of work rather than for individual utterances: Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein (1918) and Sean Connery (1930). Bernstein had a fairy-tale beginning to his career when, in 1943, he took over conducting the New York Philharmonic on a national radio broadcast as a last-minute substitute for music director Bruno Walter. The reception was overwhelming, and over the next half-century, Bernstein turned out symphonies, operas, and musicals like "West Side Story," and spanned the globe conducting orchestras and educating the public as to the power of classical music.
Connery had a brief career as a stage actor and bodybuilder before landing the role of James Bond in 1962. Although he's been mostly retired from acting since 2005 (not wanting to deal with the "idiots in Hollywood"), his role as Bond ("...James Bond") will forever define him -- well, that and his appearances on Jeopardy! ...
In these days of controversy of the 51 Park center in New York, we were struck that on this day in 1902, the first Arabic daily newspaper in the U.S., "Al-Hoda," began publication in New York City.
Thursday:
Today would have been the 70th birthday of Don LaFontaine, whom you know, even if you think you don't. LaFontaine was the movie trailer voice-over guy, who transfomed the phrase "In a world where ..." from a cliché to a monument.
In 1946, George Orwell's "Animal Farm" was published, much to the chagrin of schoolkids everywhere. Not that it's not a fine and important book, but it's gotten classified as just another notch in the summer reading belt and lost a lot of its power. Speaking of animals, there's that old saying that every dog has his day? Well, since today is National Dog Day, we guess this is it. And speaking of dogs, it was on this day in 1957 that the Ford Motor Company rolled the first Edsel off of the assembly line. And speaking of disasters, we can't help but think that the recent oil gusher in the Gulf was made possible at least in part by the good folks of Titusville, PA, who began operating the world's first oil well on this day in 1859.
Readers of a certain age will feel ancient as we note that Macaulay Culkin turns 30 today.
Friday:
The only things to note today are the birthdays of two men who couldn't be more different. In 1912, the King of the Jungle was "born" when Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Tarzan of the Apes" was published. And it's the 58th birthday of Paul Reubens -- better known in his persona of Pee-Wee Herman (and need we mention that Pee-Wee will open on Broadway in Ocotber?)
Saturday and Sunday:
This is a weekend to celebrate the births of groundbreaking creative artists.
In 1828, it was Leo Tolstoy, who's best known for his long and complex novels like "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" that deeply explore human psychology and relationships.
In 1898, writer and director Preston Sturges was born. Sturges had a streak of cinematic creativity in the 1940s that has never been matched, turning out a string of ten comedies that remain unrivaled for their characters, dialogue, and sheer lunacy. By 1948, he was all but washed up, but in the years before, he was unrivaled.
Actress Ingrid Bergman was born in 1915. After acting in 11 Swedish films in the 1930s, she was signed by American producer David O. Selznick, and spent the next 40 years making film classic after classic. From "Casablanca" to "Notorious" to "Murder on the Orient Express" (for which she won an Oscar), she left a series of indelible performances.
In 1917, comic writer and artist Jack Kirby was born. Kirby was "the King" of comics, with an imagination that was as limitless as the cosmic stories he illustrated. The list of characters he created or co-created -- Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, and the Challengers of the Unknown -- is enough to make any creator wish he'd have come up with just one of them.
1920 saw the birth of saxophonist Charlie Parker. Although deviled by drugs and alcohol in his brief 34 years, his postmodern method of playing jazz and bebop has influenced players ever since. Unfortunately, his genius came at a great cost. He lived high and hard, and when he died in 1955, the coroner estimated his age at between 50 and 60.
Speaking of "War and Peace," we should mention that, in the former category, Saturday will see UFC 118 and in the latter, Sunday is the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
And, finally, we note that on this weekend in 1922, the world heard its first radio commercial. The ad, which aired on New York station WEAF, was for the Queensboro Realty Corporation of Jackson Heights, who was trying to sell folks on their Hawthorne Court apartment complex in Queens.
Who knew then that one company's $100 investment would later turn into a multi-billion-dollar industry that would influence us all -- or try to?
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Musicals, Classic Hollywood, Beauty Pageants, Ancient Roman History, Classical Music |
|
Archived under: 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 19th Century, Actors, Advertising, Agatha Christie, Aliens, American History, Ancient History, Animal Rights, Animals, Anniversaries, Archaeology, Artists, Arts, Authors, Autos, Beauty Pageants, Birthdays, Black History, Books, Breakfast, Broadway, Business, Cameras, Captain America, Cartoonists, Celebrations, Celebrities, Chefs, Civil Rights, Classical Music, Comic Books, Comic Strips, Comics, Composers, Cooking, Corn, Corn Palace, Dead Celebrities, Death, Directors, Disease, Dogs, Eating, Edsel, Entertainment, Europe, European History, Events, Fiction, Filmmaking, Flops, Food and Drink, Gene Kelly, George Orwell, History, Italy, Jack Kirby, James Bond, Las Vegas, Literature, Marketing, Media, Miss Universe, Movie History, Movies, Music, Music History, Musicals, Musicians, New York, Newspapers, Opera, Pageants, Performing Arts, Pets, Publishing, Quotes, Recipes, Rudolph Valentino, Screenwriters, Silent Movies, Singers, Singin in the Rain, Spies, Superheroes, Surfing, Tarzan, The Bible, Voice Actors, Wrestlers, Wrestling |
| Post a comment (0) | Email this posting |
Okay, so maybe you won't find
this in your backyard, but
there's bound to be
something interesting
(Photo by Roger Braunstein)
|
Today, June 15th, is the fitth annual Nature Photography Day, a holiday created by the North American Nature
Photography Association (NANPA) to promote the art and science of nature photography and a general appreciation for nature. You don't have to be a skilled photographer or an environmentalist to join the celebration. As long as you have a camera -- amateur or professional -- you're good to go.
While it's hard to beat seeing wildlife in its natural habitat, there's
no need to make a great excursion into the wilderness. Nature is all around us, and we often take its beauty for granted. You can simply capture images of things that you encounter every day, like squirrels,
birds, or butterflies in your backyard or on a walk.
You can also get your kids or grandkids involved by giving them a disposable camera and taking them on a nature walk, as suggested on NANPA's website. Although only members can submit and publish their nature photos in NANPA's bi-weekly newsletter, non-members shouldn't feel discouraged from taking part in this holiday. For those looking for a challenge, check out the 40th annual photo contest sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation or The Nature Conservancy's 5th annual photo contest.
Another good reason to get out in the fresh air -- camera or no -- is the health benefit of being close to nature (known as "ecotherapy"). In a 2005 issue of British Medical Journal, researchers reported that "smaller animals (for example, squirrels, owls, and raccoons) have been used successfully in therapies for children with emotional and behavioral problems."
So, whether it's for your passion for photography, your love for nature, or your well-being, grab your camera, get outside, explore, and snap away. As Ansel Adams once said: "I never know in advance what I will photograph ... I go out into the world and hope I
will come across something that imperatively interests me. I am addicted to the
found object. I have no doubt that I will continue to make photographs till my
last breath."
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Photography, Wildlife, Wildflowers, Parks and Public Lands, Ecotourism |
|
Archived under: Animals, Ansel Adams, Cameras, Camping, Environment, National Geographic, Nature, Photography, Wildlife |
| Post a comment (0) | Email this posting |
"Say 'cheese!'"
(Photo by Robert Mann) |
Summer is nearly here, so it’s time to officially come out of hibernation. For those of you who have an itchy shutter finger, today is an especially good day to venture out and about with your camera. June 15th is Nature Photography Day -- a great excuse to pause and observe the wild world and contemplate its conservation.
Fortunately, you don't need to be the next Franz Lanting in order to participate in this event, or even to plan a trip to an exotic location. The North American Nature Photography Association has a very low-pressure approach. They'll be posting members’ photos in their newsletter, but they offer a few rules to follow. The main rule is that your photographs must be taken within walking or biking distance of wherever you are on June 15. This provides you with an opportunity to find the glimpses of nature that you might otherwise miss amid your ordinary day-to-day routines. You might see the sidewalk in a new way, or gain an appreciation for backyard visitors.
Maybe you won’t end up with a print you want to frame at the end of the day. That’s fine. Stopping to "snap the roses" is its own reward. On the other hand, maybe you’ll be inspired to develop your skills as a photographer. The next challenge: kids!
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Nature Photography, Personal Nature Photography Exhibits, Resources for Photographers, Photo Contests, Nature Photography For Purchase |
|
Archived under: Animals, Arts, Cameras, Conservation, Environment, Events, Hobbies, Home and Garden, Photography, Wildlife |
| Post a comment (2) | Email this posting |
|
Menopause Hormone MDs
The Most Highly Trained Physicians in Hormones for Menopause.
www.BodyLogicMD.com/Me...
|
Menopausal Treatment
Top Menopause Treatments! Therapy for the Symptoms of Menopause!
TheCompleteMenopause.c...
|
|
