Thursday, January 6, 2011

Epiphany: a sudden intuitive realization.

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world. - John Milton

It's the Feast of the Three Kings (Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar), Little Christmas, etc. (OK folks, the holidays are official over - take the damn decorations down.) If you're playing the home version of the game - the Gifts of the Magi were Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh (or the watch fob and a set of combs would have been an acceptable answer.)



... The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi. - O. Henry







May your day be filled with small moments of infinite joy and wisdom.


To counteract all this holiday cheer – The sequel to the 100 Greatest Movie Insults



Have you used any of them today? Here is the original version.


January 6, 1945 -
Another fine Chuck Jones Looney Tunes outing, Odor-able Kitty, premiered on this date .



This was Pepe LePew's debut.


January 6, 1963 -
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins began on NBC on this date .



See Jim wrestle the alligator, while I watch safely from the studio, cocktail in hand.


January 6, 1973 -
The animated lesson series Schoolhouse Rock premiered on ABC with the Multiplication Rock series.



Everybody needs a hero, what we would do without zero?


January 6, 1979 -
Soul Man, recorded by comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as the fictitious singing team, The Blues Brothers, debuted on Billboard's pop charts.



The Blues Brothers had originally been created for TV's Saturday Night Live, and had been so popular that it prompted several records and a movie with Jake and Elwood Blues. Soul Man peaked at No. 14 on the charts .


Today in History:
January 6, 1856 -
Sherlock Holmes, noted English apiarist, morphine and cocaine addict and sometimes detective, was born on this date.







"Elementary, my dear Watson", (was never actually said by Holmes.)


Franklin Pierce, served as the 14th President of the United States. Most historians agree that he was the worst President ever (time will tell) and after the Presidency, Pierce became a hopeless alcoholic (once running over an elderly woman while driving a carriage intoxicated.)



He started his presidency in a state of grief and nervous exhaustion. Two months before he took office, on January 6, 1853, the President-elect's family had boarded a train in Boston and shortly there after been trapped in their derailed car when it rolled down an embankment near Andover, Massachusetts. Pierce and his wife survived, merely shaken up, but saw their 11-year-old son Benjamin crushed to death.

Not a great way to start a new job.


January 6, 1994 -
Ice skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked by Tonya Harding's bodyguard, Shane Stant on this date.



"Why? Why?"


January 6, 1955 -
Rowan Atkinson, British comedian, was born on this date.





An incredibly versatile actor - so much more than just Mr. Bean.



And so it goes

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