"Curse you, King Tut!" Thursday: We trade in coincidence again today. For example, it's the birthdays of two of the most beloved and trusted men in American history: Will Rogers (1879) and Walter Cronkite (1916). Rogers began his show business career as a vaudevillian, performing rope tricks that were soon combined with pithy comments on the day's events. He became so popular that he was signed by producer Florenz Ziegfeld to be one of the stars of his annual "Follies." A film career followed, as did a national newspaper column and radio programs, where his opinions were noted for the common-sense truths behind the quips. When he was killed in an Alaskan plane crash in 1935, the nation went into mourning. His hometown of Claremore, Oklahoma, still celebrates him at its annual "Will Rogers Days," which begin today and continue through Saturday. Cronkite began working on newspapers in high school, and translated his print journalism skills onto radio in the mid 1930s. During World War II, he served as a correspondent for the United Press, often reporting from combat zones. In 1950, he joined the news staff at CBS, and in 1962, became the managing editor and anchorman for the "CBS Evening News," where his unbiased and in-depth reporting of the day’s events won him the title of the "Most Trusted Man in America." But that's not our only birthday coincidence. On this day in 1946, both Robert Mapplethorpe and Laura Bush were born – and it's hard to imagine two people who could be less alike. Mapplethorpe was a photographer who tried to find art and beauty in the obscene. While his works were condemned for their frank sexual content, it was (and is) hard to deny the beauty of their composition and execution. Laura Bush is the former first lady, who despite the many polarizing opinions her husband's administration sparked, was generally respected for her championship of children's health, education, and literacy. It would be hard to imagine two people less likely to be in the same room blowing out candles on a birthday cake, though. And tomorrow will mark the 47th birthdays of actors Andrea McArdle and Tatum O'Neal, two women who, despite their starts at child actors, took differing career paths. O'Neal began acting early, turning in an Oscar-winning performance in "Paper Moon" by the age of 10. It's been mostly downhill for her since, though, as she's lived through a busted marriage and various addictions. She still acts, but not at the level she once promised. McArdle also began at the top, when at the age of 14, she was pulled from the chorus to star in the original production of the Broadway musical "Annie" (losing the Tony Award to her co-star Dorothy Louden, who played Annie's nemesis, Miss Hannigan). In the years since, she's worked on- and off-Broadway, touring the country in numerous musicals and plays (and is even currently playing Miss Hannigan in Long Beach, California). We’re not through, though. Thursday is King Tut Day, commemorating the 1922 discovery of the lost tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen by Egyptologist Howard Carter. The tomb itself was supposed to be cursed, meaning that all who dared to enter it would die horrible deaths, but of the 58 people who were present at the tomb's opening, only eight had died by 1934 – and Carter himself lived until 1939. So much for that "coincidence." Finally, it's National Candy Day, and if you overindulge, you're likely to meet your dentist – not so coincidentally. Suggested Sites... CBS News: Walter Cronkite - 2009 obituary and tribute to the longtime anchorman. Will Rogers.com - biography, photos, and info about Rogers. The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation - promoting and advancing Mapplethorpe's work and causes. The Curse of King Tut's Tomb - short version: there wasn't one. How Candy Causes Tooth Decay - brush, brush, brush.

Directory categories: Comedians, Journalists, Photographers, First Ladies, Egyptology

Archived under: 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1960s, 19th Century, Actors, Alaska, American History, Ancient History, Anniversaries, Archaeology, Biographies, Birthdays, Broadway, Candy, Celebrations, Celebrities, Child Actors, Children, Coincidence, Comedians, Contemporary Art, Cowboys and Cowgirls, Curses, Dead Celebrities, Education, Egypt, Entertainment, Events, First Ladies, Food and Drink, Gay History, History, Holidays, Humor, In Character, Journalism, Journalists, Men, Movies, Musicals, Mythology and Folklore, News, Newspapers, Nostalgia, Performing Arts, Photography, Radio, Reporters, Scientists, Secrets, Sex and Sexuality, Singers, TV, Tutankhamun, Vaudeville, WWII, Walter Cronkite, Will Rogers, Women, Writers

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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... United States Military Academy at West Point - for sale, cheap. Contact Gen. Arnold. Official R. Crumb Site - keep on truckin'. The Beatles - the core of the apple. Dangerous Minds: Early Technicolor - the good folks at Kodak bring you color movies from 1922. Jerry Lewis Telethon - mock him if you will, but he does good work.

Directory categories: Revolutionary War, Children's Literature, Rock and Pop Artists, Musicals, Running

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The Fire Arts Festival's amazing Fire Snail Photo by Lilah of UrbanSardines Remember when your parents told you, "Don't play with fire?" It's a good thing some kids didn't listen. The tradition of creating art with fire is timeless and, frankly, a hell of a lot of fun. I was lucky enough to visit The Crucible's Fire Arts Festival this year in Oakland to see for myself -- and in the process burned a few hairs off of my arm. The Fire Arts Festival is a carnival of performance and industrial art fueled by creativity and a lot of flame. I walked through a small dust storm in the parking lot on my way to the festival, where a line of fiery workshops awaited me. The educational experience makes sense, because the event is actually a fundraiser for The Crucible, an organization that offers classes in blacksmithing, ceramics, fire performance, foundry, and other classes where you simply make cool stuff. I watched be-goggled folks blow glass, hammer hot molten metal, and chip away at huge slabs of stone. I even learned how to make a flashlight out of two clothespins, an LED, and a watch battery. But the real draw of the festival is the fire art, and these artists take fire seriously. I watched the "Fire Vortex," where men in silver flameproof suits create a spectacular whirl of flame into the sky. People lined up to fire shots -- literally -- at the Flamethrower Shooting Gallery (but you better sign a waiver form first). Everywhere you looked, high octane flames shot through the air, hot enough to warm your cheeks from many feet away. Many of the acts at the festival -- such as "The Hand of Man" (a giant hydraulic human hand controlled by a glove), and the "Life Size Mouse Trap" (an amusing Rube Goldberg-esque kinetic sculpture) -- have also made appearances at Burning Man and MakerFaire, The Fire Arts Festival runs until this Saturday, but if you aren't lucky enough to make it to Oakland, check out the many categories in the Yahoo! Directory about fire-inspired art Start with blacksmithing, ceramics, metal sculpture, glass art, or explore other pyrotechnic fun. Suggested Sites... The Crucible - "non-profit collaboration of art, industry, and community." The Fire Vortex - watch a video of the amazing Fire Vortex. The Hand of Man Robot - read about the 25-foot arm that can crush a car.

Directory categories: Fire Performance, Burning Man, Pyrotechnics, Fire Protection

Archived under: Arts, Burning Man, California, Celebrations, Ceramics, Charity, Contemporary Art, Counterculture, Crafts, Creativity, Entertainment, Events, Festivals, Fire, In Character, Rube Goldberg, Sculpture, Society and Culture, Tourist Attractions, Yahoo! Directory

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Obama "Hope" poster by Shepard Fairey The name Shepard Fairey might not be familiar to most people, but his artwork became internationally recognizable during the 2008 United States presidential campaign. Fairey created the "Hope" poster for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, based on a 2006 copyrighted image owned by the Associated Press. Fairley claimed his work was protected by the "Fair Use" clause of the United States Copyright Act, but AP filed a copyright lawsuit against Fairey in March for unspecified damages. The AP case raises a lot of questions, especially when it comes to the Internet and fair use of copyrighted materials. In 2006, a group of die-hard "Die Hard" fans called GuyzNite wrote a tribute song to the movie series and posted it on YouTube using clips from the Bruce Willis movies to make a music video. Studio lawyers at 20th Century Fox discovered the video and demanded it be taken down for copyright violations. Thankfully, studio marketing strategists recognized the potential buzz the video could create and paid GuyzNite to repost the video with a new verse promoting the fourth movie in the series, "Live Free or Die Hard." The GuyzNite case begs the question though: Did Fox even have the right to take the video down in the first place? All across the Internet, people are taking copyrighted content and appropriating it for their own use: mashups on YouTube, icons on Internet journal sites, even scribbled-on paparazzi photos on gossip sites. Typically, fair use is transformative in nature, meaning someone can’t just take a photo and slap it on a t-shirt to make a buck. But it’s difficult to figure out just where that line is drawn. Sure, parodies are protected, but what about fan videos? Or Machinima? Or even Iconic presidential posters based on news photos? Looks like we’ll have to wait and see. Until then, hoard your icons and avatars carefully. Suggested Sites... Stanford Copyright & Fair Use Center - current copyright cases, legislation, news articles, and resources for copyright information. Mashuptown - blog about music mashups (two or more songs played over each other to make a new sound). Macinima - site for sharing movies created from video game graphics. Anime Music Videos - forum for creating and discussing Anime Music Videos.

Directory categories: Copyright, Creative Commons, Mashups, Machinima, Intellectual Property

Archived under: Artists, Arts, Barack Obama, Censorship, Contemporary Art, Creativity, Design, First Amendment, Graffiti and Street Art, Homemade, Images, Internet, Issues and Causes, Law, Law Enforcement, Legal Cases, Mashups, Plagiarism, Society and Culture

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Andre "the Giant" Rene Roussimoff (From WWE.com) André René Roussimoff was a man of great size and stature; so much so, in fact, that he was sometimes called the "Eighth Wonder of the World." It's no wonder then, that after leaving his hometown of Grenoble, France as a teenager to start a career as a wrestler, he would come to be known around the world simply as "André the Giant." André garnered fame challenging wrestlers across the globe, but his greatest success came in the U.S. as one of the WWF's (now WWE) most popular "faces" throughout the 70s and early 80s. His notable feuds with such wrestlers as Hulk Hogan and Big John Studd fueled his legend, but perhaps it's his career outside of the "squared circle" that cemented André the Giant's immovable place in popular culture. Starting in the mid-70s, André branched out into acting on TV shows like "The Six Million Dollar Man" (as a Sasquatch) and "The Greatest American Hero" (as a monster), but he's most fondly remembered for his portrayal of the rhyming giant Fezzik in the immensely popular 1987 film, "The Princess Bride." Around that same time, graphic designer Shepard Fairey used André's image in a street art campaign called "Andre the Giant Has a Posse." Playing with the concept of phenomenology, Fairey printed images of André on stickers and posters that were adopted and disseminated by skateboarders worldwide. Eventually, the campaign would evolve into Obey Giant, a global brand offering clothing, prints, stickers, videos, and music. André's exceptional size is attributed to acromegaly, a syndrome that causes the pituitary gland to excrete an overabundance of growth hormone. His actual height is still disputed, but estimates place him somewhere between 6'10" and 7'4". Doctors told him he probably wouldn't live to see the age of 40 and, unfortunately, they weren't far off. He died from congestive heart failure (most likely a result of the acromegaly) on this day in 1993. He was 46. Today, we think you should take a moment to remember a truly big man. We mean it. Anybody want a peanut? Suggested Sites... WWE.com: Andre the Giant - World Wrestling Entertainment's official page for Hall of Fame inductee André the Giant. Obey Giant - includes wheat pasting, guerrilla-style street art, stencil painting, stickering, and the "André the Giant has a Posse" campaign. Fezzik Fanlisting - for fans of the character André the Giant portrayed in "The Princess Bride." TheGiant.org - source for information on the Obey Giant campaign, by world renowned artist Shepard Fairey. YouTube.com: Andre: Heart of the Giant Trailer - trailer for the much maligned biopic written and directed by Rokki James Hollywood.

Directory categories: André the Giant (1946-1993), Professional Wrestling, The Princess Bride, Graffiti and Stencil Art

Archived under: 1970s, 1980s, Actors, Anniversaries, Athletes, Biographies, Biology, Celebrities, Contemporary Art, Dead Celebrities, Entertainment, Giants, Movies, Nicknames, WWE, Wrestlers, Wrestling

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