Thursday, March 8, 2012

This will linger in your mind

I'm not quite sure this commercial works in the way they intended -



I'm not sure the worse thing in the world you might do if you found yourselves naked in a Turkish bathhouse with Charlie Sheen would be is to reenact scenes from Platoon. Remember, Charlie spent $500,000.00 on cocaine and escorts last year.


It's International Women's Day today. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women.



It's convenient that it occurs during Women's History Month.


Purim started last night:



The festival of Purim is celebrated every year on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar (late winter/early spring). It commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman’s plot “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day.”



It's sometimes referred to as the Jewish Mardi Gras or Halloween. (I still like the Poppy seed Hamentaschen more than the fruit filled ones.)


March 8, 1945 -
George Michael Dolenz, Jr., actor, musician, director and circus boy was born on this date.




March 8, 1996 -
The film that put the Coen Bros. into the mainstream consciousness, Fargo, went into limited release on this date.



William H. Macy begged the directors for the role of Jerry Lundegaard. He did two readings for the part, and became convinced he was the best man for the role. When the Coens didn't get back to him, he flew to New York (where they were starting production) and said, "I'm very, very worried that you are going to screw up this movie by giving this role to somebody else. It's my role, and I'll shoot your dogs if you don't give it to me."


Today in History -
March 8, 1933 -
The quintessential backstage musical, 42nd Street, premiered in New York City on this date.



Ginger Rogers took the role of Anytime Annie at the urging of director Mervyn LeRoy, whom she was dating at the time. Illness prevented Mervyn LeRoy from directing, so he handed the reins over to Lloyd Bacon.


March 8, 1941 -
Sherwood Anderson and his fourth wife, Eleanor, were enjoying a well deserved vacation on a ocean liner bound from from New York to Valparaiso, Chile. During a cocktail party on the ship, Anderson was enjoying his olive from a well chilled martini: it would be his last.



Anderson soon became very ill and he and his wife had to disembarked at Colon in Panama and head to a local hospital. He died in agony, two days later on this date. An autopsy revealed that he had accidentally swallowed a small piece of a toothpick (presumably in the martini olive), which had perforated his colon and caused a fatal case of peritonitis.

Not a great way to go.


March 8, 1950 -
Marshal Voroshilov announces the existence of the Soviet atomic bomb.

This baffled the western powers, who were sure they had left it somewhere safe.



33 years later, on this date, the ever swift President Ronald Reagan gets around to calling the Soviets, "an evil empire."


March 8, 1959 -
The apex of the golden age of Television was achieved on this date when Groucho, Chico and Harpo make their final TV appearance together.



It was all down hill from here.


March 8, 1968 -
The Soviet submarine, K-129, sinks in the Pacific Ocean, killing all 97 crewmembers aboard. Later in the year a U.S. submarine secretly retrieves an encryption machine, codebooks, and nuclear warheads from the Soviet vessel.



A further bold attempt is made in 1974 to bring up the entire submarine using the CIA ship Glomar Explorer, built by Howard Hughes. That mission supposedly fails, and is made public by the Los Angeles Times to the great embarrassment of the Agency.


March 8, 1969 -
Mad Monster Party was released by Embassy Pictures for Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc on this date.



The heads of the "Boris" and "Monster" figures are the same basic shape, appropriately enough, with Boris's fine-tuned for a more human appearance and the Monster's for that monsterish look (look at the figures' heads when they're in the same shot, both more or less in profile, during the "greeting the guests" scene!)


March 8, 1999 -
Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio passed away in his Florida home on this date in 1999.



We actually know where he's gone? And since he's been dead for 13 years, we should take our lonely eyes off of him. It's giving me the creeps.


And so it goes.

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