|
|
|
Posts Archived Under Witches
The Milestone Mo-Tel today. Winners get one
free night. Losers get two. (That's the second
time we've used that joke today.) |
If the whole world loves a winner, we have a weekend full of love ahead of us. Let's get started!
The most obvious winners will be declared Thursday when either Clint Robertson or Brandy Kuentzel wins the right to become Donald Trump's latest Apprentice for one year. (We hope that the loser isn't stuck for two years ...) One of the three remaining teams on "The Amazing Race" will win a million smackers on Sunday. (Perhaps eating that sheep's head may have been worth it.) It's almost guaranteed that none of these winners will make Barbara Walters' list of the year's "Most Fascinating People," (most fascinating to her, anyway ...) but we’ll find out for sure Thursday. (Our guess for #1 on her list? The cameraman who smears the Vaseline all over the lens that photographs her.) And on Friday, they'll be handing out the Nobel Prizes. The Nobels aren't like the Oscars; everyone already knows who won and the winners have actually accomplished something that matters, rather than playing loveable oddballs.
Saturday we'll see some sports winners. In the afternoon, someone (Cam Newton? Andrew Luck? LaMichael James?) will win the Heisman Trophy as the nation's finest college football player, and in the evening, either Georges St-Pierre or Josh Koscheck will take the welterweight championship at UFC 124 in Montreal. We assume the combatants will not resort to wheeling around the ring in roller skates, but while it would be appropriate (given that Thursday marks the anniversary of their 1884 patent), we'd have to warn them that such a thing would be just plain dangerous.)
Sunday also marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore, which ensured that George W. Bush became the nation's 43rd president. Whether that made the country a winner or a loser, we'll leave up to you. Falling into a similar category is Larry King's retirement from his CNN talk show on Friday. (As with President Bush, we won't say whether that's a plus or a minus.)
Weary travelers were winners 85 years ago Sunday, when the Milestone Mo-Tel, the world's first motel (short for "motor hotel"), opened in San Luis Obispo, California.
If we stretch the definition of "winner" to include those whose birthdays fall this weekend, then we're lousy with winners. For example, Thursday sees the birthdays of both Margaret Hamilton (1902) and Redd Foxx (1922). Hamilton is best known for her role as the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 classic, "The Wizard of Oz." Despite her indelible portrayal of one of the screen's great villains, Hamilton loved children and was a lifelong advocate for charities that benefitted kids and animals. Foxx was someone whose work, on the other hand, was decidedly not for kids. A veteran of the black vaudeville entertainment venues known as the "Chitlin' Circuit," Foxx recorded a series of "party records" in the 1950s that were both filthy and hilarious. He reached a mainstream fame in the '70s when he starred in "Sanford and Son," where his frequent feigned heart attacks were one of the show's running gags. In a supreme irony, he suffered an actual heart attack while rehearsing for another television show, but no one believed was it real until it was too late.
Sunday would have been the 95th birthday of Frank Sinatra. The greatest popular singer of the 20th century, Sinatra was also an Oscar-winning actor, starred in numerous TV specials that consisted of nothing but him singing with his guests, and was the biggest attraction in Las Vegas when that title actually meant something.
Monday, we celebrate the 192nd birthday of Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln who was criticized in her time for her extravagant and spendthrift ways, and committed to a psychiatric hospital by her son Robert. While she was undoubtedly depressed, wouldn't any woman who’d lived through the death of three sons and the murder of her husband (while sitting next to him) feel the same? She was eventually declared competent and released, but her health was broken, and she died three years later.
If birthday celebrants are winners, so too are those is show business who meet success, like performers and lovers of country music, who can celebrate the 83rd anniversary of the first broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry on Friday. The Opry has been a staple of radio and television in the decades since it debuted, highlighting the best in country, from Hank Williams and Minnie Pearl to Clint Black and Carrie Underwood. Someone who's appeared at the Opry (but has yet to be inducted into its member ranks) is Taylor Swift. Perhaps the Opry has been waiting for her to turn 21 - in which case, it need wait no longer! The Grammy-winning singer reaches her majority on Monday.
Thursday will see the annual airing of the Rankin-Bass animated Christmas special, "The Year without a Santa Claus," which features memorable turns by Snow Miser and Heat Miser (who are also not members of the Opry).
Friday is also the 55th anniversary of the "Mighty Mouse Playhouse's" television premiere. In TV's early days, broadcasters were desperate for material to air, so old movies and cartoons were natural fodder, and Paul Terry's "Mighty Mouse" cartoons were some of the oddest programs to come to the screen. Mini operatic melodramas, they featured the eponymous rodent singing his was through battles with the villainous Oil Can Harry. Mighty made a brief comeback in the 80s in a brilliant TV series produced by Ralph Bakshi, but he's been in retirement since self-appointed censor Donald Wildmon mistook the mouse's flower sniffing for drug use. (No, really.) Wildmon isn't the only well-intentioned, if-misguided, protector we mention, though, since Thursday is the anniversary of the founding of the John Birch Society, which has been protecting Americans from the Communists lurking under their beds for 52 years.
Legitimate do-gooders have something to celebrate this weekend, too. Thursday is the U.N's annual International Anti-Corruption Day, dedicated to wiping out, well, corruption and promoting the rule of law, and Friday is both Human Rights Day and the beginning of Human Rights Week.
We end by noting a delightful juxtaposition on Thursday. December 9, 1792, saw the first cremation in America, when statesman Henry Laurens died at his plantation in Charleston, South Carolina, and per his will, his body was burned. On the same date in 1886, Clarence Birdseye, inventor of frozen food was born. We're reminded of the choice Curly Howard was given in a Three Stooges short: to be burned at the stake or to have his head cut off. He opted for the former, on the reasoning that a hot stake's better than a cold chop. Good night!
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Reality TV, College Football, Al gore, Hotels and Motels, Country Musicians |
|
Archived under: 18th Century, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1950s, 1980s, 19th Century, Abraham Lincoln, Actors, Advertising, American History, Animation, Anniversaries, Athletes, Awards, Biographies, Birthdays, Black History, Buildings, California, Cartoons, Celebrations, Celebrities, Censorship, Children´s TV, Christmas, Coincidence, College Football, College Sports, Comedians, Communism, Communists, Country Music, Dead Celebrities, Death, Depression, Elections, Entertainment, Events, First Ladies, Food and Drink, Football, Frank Sinatra, George Bush, Government, Health, History, Holidays, Human Rights, Humor, In Character, Invention, Inventors, Issues and Causes, Journalism, Journalists, Law, Legal Cases, Media, Men, Movie History, Movies, Music, News, Nobel Prize, Nostalgia, Politics, Presidential Candidates, Presidents, Radio, Reality TV, Recreation and Travel, Reporters, Roadside Attractions, Singers, Sports, Supreme Court, TV, Talk Show Hosts, The Three Stooges, The Wizard of Oz, Tourist Attractions, Travel, U.S. Elections, UFC, United Nations, United States, Vaudeville, Villains, Vintage, Witches, Women, Wrestlers, Wrestling |
| Post a comment (6) | Email this posting |
Well, that's what it all comes
down to, doesn't it? |
Welcome once more to The Spark, your source for a deep dig into the week's events. Let's begin, shall we?
Monday:
The week begins with the anniversaries of the deaths of a couple of prominent Southerners. It's hard to determine which was the more notable, though. Obviously, Elvis Presley dying in 1977 got more ink (and the good people at FTD had more orders for flowers to be delivered to Graceland than for any other event or place), and his effect on pop culture is incalculable, but in 1888, John Pemberton died in Atlanta, three years after inventing Coca-Cola. Memphians will note the anniversary with Elvis Week, but we don’t think Atlantans will be celebrating Pemberton Week, so Mr. Presley may get the nod.
But Elvis and Dr. Pemberton aren’t the only prominent folks who died on this date. In 1956, Bela Lugosi died. Lugosi was so identified with Count Dracula that he resented the way the role had typecast him, so it was odd that he chose to be buried in the Dracula cape he had worn on stage and screen. In 1948, baseball legend Babe Ruth died. Had he lived another six years, he might have made the cover of "Sports Illustrated," the first issue of which hit the newsstands in 1954.
In birthdays today, we note two creators and an icon (of sorts). In 1884, Hugo Gernsback was born. Gernsback is all but unknown today, but in the 1920s, he nurtured not only the genre of science fiction (which he called "scientifiction"), but also created what has come to be known as fandom by printing names and addresses of readers in his science fiction magazines. (Coincidentally, the World Science Fiction Convention opens tomorrow in Reno, NV.) 1892, Otto Messmer was born. Messmer was an artist and animator who may or may not have created Felix the Cat, who, until the advent of Mickey Mouse in the late 1920s, was the biggest animated star in movies. The icon is Fess Parker, who was born in 1924. In the 1950s, he played frontiersman and Congressman Davy Crockett (whose own birth in 1786 we note tomorrow) on television, causing a mania for coonskin caps. In the 60s, he played frontiersman and legislator Daniel Boone.
In the oddity file, we see that Chang and Eng Bunker, the original "Siamese Twins," arrived in Boston in 1829. Though they were joined at the sternum, the Bunkers married sisters and fathered 21 children between them. We needn't dwell on the details. And it's the 90th birthday of bohemian writer Charles Bukowski, who managed to turn a life of dissipation and alcohol into poetry.
Tuesday:
Last week, we mentioned that "The Wizard of Oz" had had its world premiere in Oconomowoc, WI. Well, on August 17, 1939, it finally reached New York, opening at the Capitol Theatre on Broadway. Speaking of things reaching the Big Apple, it was on this day in 1790, that the U.S. capital moved from New York to Philadelphia (the government would open shop in Washington DC in 1800.)
Speaking of things leaving New York, Robert Fulton's steamboat, The Clermont, left New York for Albany in 1807. (That route later became notorious in the early 20th century, as philandering husbands and wives used it to follow through on trysts. "Taking the night boat to Albany" became shorthand for having an affair.)
And speaking of illicit affairs, how could we forget that, on this day in 1893, Mae West was born? West was an actor an playwright who traded in the power of sex to scandalize, so much so that a number of her plays were shut down for their scandalous plots and she herself was arrested more than once.
Some musical events of note today. In 1954, Billy Murray died. Murray is all but unknown today, but he was a staggeringly popular recording artist in the first quarter of the 20th century, becoming the first person to sell a million records. In 1959, Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue" was released. It marked a new type of cool jazz that hadn't been widely heard before, and Miles struck gold, with the album being generally considered to the best-selling jazz album of all time. Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson will release an album of his arrangements of songs by George Gershwin today. It’s also the 27th anniversary of the death of George’s brother Ira, though we don't know if the though of Wilson messing with the Gershwin songbook is what killed him.
Wednesday:
Today is a day for all types of women's events. In 1587, Virginia Dare became the first child of European parents to be born on American soil. She was born in the Roanoake colony in North Carolina, an outpost from which every resident mysteriously vanished soon after. In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing women the right to vote. And today, the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders will release a swimsuit calendar. Whether this is a step forward or backward, we leave to you, dear reader.
In three completely unrelated events, we note than, in 1227, Genghis Khan, who created the largest empire the world has ever known, died; that today is International Homeless Animals Day; and that an expedition to create the first 3D map of the wreckage site of RMS Titanic will begin.
Thursday:
Not a good day for witches or those suspected of being witches. In 1612, three women from the Lancashire village of Samlesbury, England, were put on trial, for allegedly practicing witchcraft, and eighty years later, in 1692 in Salem, MA, one woman and four men ere executed after being convicted of witchcraft.
Following the death of Elvis earlier in the week, the death of Groucho Marx in 1977 didn't cause much of a ripple, but to fans of classic comedy, it was a bigger event.
Thanks to the efforts of birthday boy Philo T. Farnsworth (1906), who invented the television, news travels faster than ever -- or certainly faster than it did in 1848, when the news of the California Gold Rush finally reached the New York Herald, a mere seven months after gold had been discovered. Had airplanes been around in those days (and today is National Aviation Day, to commemorate the 1871 birth of Orville Wright), the east coast might have gotten the word sooner, though.
Friday:
Speaking of getting the word late, it was on this day in 1866 that President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over, a mere 16 months after the surrender at Appomattox.
(We might also mention in this context that in 1858, Charles Darwin first published his theory of evolution in "The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London," alongside Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory, though there are still some folks who either haven’t gotten that news, or who choose to ignore it.)
In musical anniversaries, in 1882 Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" debuted in Moscow and in 1885, Gilbert and Sullivan’s "The Mikado," opened in New York.
Some sports stuff today, too. It's the 90th birthday of the National Football League, founded in Canton, OH, as well as the being the openings of the World Series of both mahjong and Little League baseball. A less happy reminder of football also occurs today, when "The Tillman Story" opens; it's a documentary investigating the life and the cover-up of the death of NFL star and Army Ranger Pat Tillman.
On a (much) lighter note, a "Twilight" convention opens today in Parsippany, NJ. Why Parsippany, we have no idea.
Saturday:
In 1878, the American Bar Association was founded. We'd make a joke here, but we don't want to get sued.
Speaking of theft, it was on this day in 1911 that the Mona Lisa was stolen by an employee of the Louvre Museum (There must be something about art thefts this weekend. Sunday is the sixth anniversary of the thefts of two paintings by Edvard Munch from the Munch Museum in Oslo.)
And speaking of exaggeration, it's Wilt Chamberlain’s birthday. Wilt was born in 1936, and while he was one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history, he also claimed to be one of the most prolific scorers off the court, boasting in his autobiography that he had slept with over 20,000 women (nearly as many as his 31,419 career points).
In other birthdays today, piano legend Count Basie, who lead the swingingest big band ever, was born in 1904; Oscar-winning animation director Friz Freleng was born in 1906; Christopher Robin Milne, who inspired (and resented) the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, was born in 1920; and in 1938, country singer Kenny Rogers was born. We're not quite sure when his face was born, however.
And on this day in 1959, Hawaii became a state -- just in time to either be or not be the birthplace of Barack Obama.
Sunday:
In 1485, King Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field. Shakespeare's play of 100 or so years later painted him as an utter villain, but contemporary historians have rehabilitated him somewhat. Guess history will also be written by the victors.
Speaking of writers, we close the week by noting that, in 1893, Dorothy Parker was born. Mrs. Parker was generally considered to be the wittiest woman in America in the 1920s and '30s, with a pen dipped in poison and a tongue to match. In her later years, she tried to renounce her fame and wit, but any woman who could say, "If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn't be a bit surprised" had something going on.
Earlier, we mentioned how Hugo Gernsback more or less created science fiction fandom, and one of those early fans celebrates his 90th birthday today: Ray Bradbury. Bradbury wrote more than just science fiction, but that's what he's best known for. "If you enjoy living, it is not difficult to keep the sense of wonder," he once said. Over nearly a century, that"s a heck of a lot of wonder.
See you next time!
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Inventors, Vampires, Big Bands, Science Fiction Authors, Music History |
|
Archived under: 17th Century, 18th Century, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 19th Century, Actors, American History, Ancient History, Animal Rights, Animation, Anniversaries, Art Museums, Artists, Asia, Athletes, Authors, Babe Ruth, Baseball Players, Basketball, Beach Boys, Biographies, Birthdays, Calendars, Cartoons, Celebrations, Celebrities, Charles Darwin, Cheerleaders, China, Civil War, Classical Music, Coca Cola, Coincidence, Comedians, Composers, Conjoined Twins, Country Music, Creationism, Crime, Dead Celebrities, Death, Directors, Dorothy Parker, Elvis Presley, England, Entertainment, Games, Government, Graceland, History, Humor, Invention, Inventors, Jazz, Law, Literature, Louvre, Media, Mickey Mouse, Movie History, Movie Theatres, Movies, Museums, Music, Music History, Musicians, NBA, NFL, New York, News, Newspapers, Plastic Surgery, Poetry, Presidents, Regional, Royalty, Science, Science Fiction, Scientists, Sex and Sexuality, Shipwrecks, Singers, Society and Culture, Sports, TV, Technology, Theatres, U.K. History, Underwater, United Kingdom, United States, Vintage, War, Weird Stuff, William Shakespeare, Winnie the Pooh, Witches, Women, Writers, Writing |
| Post a comment (0) | Email this posting |
Books are food for more than
just the mind, apparently
(Photo by Roger) |
We'd originally planned on ending our salute to International Childrens Book Day today, but so many of our fellow Yahoos were so anxious to share their childhood favorite books, that we’ll have to extend the series into next week. Hopefully, these titles will tide you through the weekend.
Paige: "The House of Sixty Fathers," by Meindert deJong is about a Chinese boy who escapes with his farming family when their village is attacked and burned by Japanese troops at the start of World War Two. The family has only a few possessions left -- a piglet, some ducklings, and the old boat in which they escape. The father hears that the Americans are building a new airfield in the next town, so he travels there with the mother and their baby daughter. The little boy is left behind in the boat to guard it. It rains during the night, and the boat drifts lose from its moorings. When the boy wakes up, he is in a strange and unfamiliar place in the countryside. This is a story of how he came to befriend an American pilot, whom he rescues from the Japanese, and comes to live in a barracks with 60 soldiers who become his surrogate fathers.
Max: "Strega Nona," by Tomie dePaola. Strega Nona was very memorable for its great art and funny story. Strega Nona is the town witch who has a magical cauldron that can make spaghetti. She employs Big Anthony to help with chores. However, Big Anthony is quite clumsy and after seeing Strega Nona making spaghetti, decides to make some of his own when she leaves town. Unfortunately, he didn't think about how to stop the pot, and the spaghetti overflows the whole town and wreaks havoc! Strega Nona comes back and blows three kisses to make the pot stop, but she makes Big Anthony eat all the spaghetti as punishment. "Knots On A Counting Rope," by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault. I don't remember much about this book because I was very young (about 6) when we read it in school. However, I do remember seeing it on "Reading Rainbow," and that it’s about a grandfather who tells his grandson (who was born blind) about his birthright. Even through his disability, the boy trains horses for a race. I remember this book vividly because the pictures were done so well.
Laura: I loved reading these to my son: "Goodnight Moon," by Margaret Wise Brown, "Guess How Much I Love You," by Sam McBratney, and all of Dr Seuss's books. These I loved reading as a child: Richard Adams's "Watership Down" and "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," by Richard Bach.
Nancy: I grew up a serious kid, so I remember reading biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and other famous people. I also read a lot of Chinese Kung Fu series that are like American chapter books. When my daughter was young, we both enjoyed Beatrix Potter's beloved "Peter Rabbit" stories.
Lupe: One of my first favorite books from when I was a child was "Momo," by Michael Ende. This is one of the first longer novels I read, and it opened my to about the importance of friendship and the dangers of consumerism. I can't wait to read this book to my kids. It's a tender story and a great read. Even though it was published the year I was born, it's still up to date.
Hopefully, these memories will bring back some of your own hours spent with a good book.
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Children's Literature, Children's Authors, Dr. Seuss, Margaret Wise Brown, Beatrix Potter |
|
Archived under: Authors, Beatrix Potter, Books, Children, Children´s Literature, Dr. Seuss, Events, Fiction, In Character, Literature, Nostalgia, Parenting, Reading, Witches, Writers |
| Post a comment (2) | Email this posting |
A Wiccan priestess
performs a self-blessing ritual
(Photo by Kelly Houser) |
When England got around to repealing its anti-witchcraft laws -- in 1951 -- a guy called Gerald Gardner had cause to celebrate. A long-time Wiccan, Gardner was finally able to publish his book "Witchcraft Today" in 1954. It ignited the revival of Wicca. Known for casting spells and worshipping the Horned God, Wiccans historically suffered persecution throughout Europe. Witch-haters falsely linked Wicca with Satanism and declared the religion evil. For centuries, Wiccans were imprisoned and executed for believing in magic, for celebrating the Pagan holy days, and for choosing the pentagram as their spiritual symbol. In popular culture, images of scary witches riding brooms and brewing up curses have obscured the real practice of witchcraft. The earth-based Wiccan religion possesses an altruistic moral code to promote peace, just as most other religions, and today Wiccans still fight for equal rights and respect all over the world. No matter what your beliefs are, it couldn't hurt to try a simple ritual to bless your morning brew.
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Wicca, Witch Hunts, Wiccan Beliefs and Practices, Paganism |
|
Archived under: England, Regional, Religion, Society and Culture, Witches |
| Post a comment (1) | Email this posting |
|
Georges St-Pierre
GSP RUSHFIT - 8 Week Trainging Camp GSP's MMA conditioning program
www.gsprushfit.com
|
|
