dcaligari

There is no pain, you are receding

July 2, 2005 – Pink Floyd perform Comfortably Numb at the Live 8 London concert, re-forming with band members Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright for the first time since 1981, when Waters left the band. It’s the last time the four play together, as Wright died in 2008.

Stop what you’re doing and watch this movie

July 2, 1959 –Ed Wood’s greatest opus (not counting Glen or Glenda), Plan 9 from Outer Space, opened on this date. Bela Lugosi appears in footage shot just before his death, but with no script in mind. Edward D. Wood Jr. wrote the script to accommodate all the footage shot in a cemetery and outsideContinue reading “Stop what you’re doing and watch this movie”

Once again, Orson was screwed

July 2, 1946 –Orson Welles first attempt at restarting his Hollywood career, The Stranger, starring Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, and Orson Welles premiered in Los Angeles, on this date. (This was the first mainstream American movie to feature footage of Nazi concentration camps following World War II.) Knowing Orson Welles‘ reputation for long expositionContinue reading “Once again, Orson was screwed”

St. Swithun

One day in the latter half of the ninth century, a poor young woman on her way to market dropped her basket of eggs – shattering all of them She knelt beside the broken mess and began to weep. As luck – or divine timing – would have it, the local bishop happened to beContinue reading “St. Swithun”

Hopefully you didn’t pay for your education

Once again, everything you learned was a lie; today is actually Independence Day – The US Continental Congress declared independence from Great Britain on this day (in 1776); the formal Declaration of Independence was approved two days later on July 4.

It makes me wonder how I keep from goin’ under …

July 1, 1982 –Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five release the early rap classic The Message, on this date. It’s the first hip-hop hit with lyrics about struggle in the inner city. Unlike many early hip-hop hits, like Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight or Kurtis Blow’s The Breaks, which turned on thumping, up-tempo disco tracks, composersContinue reading “It makes me wonder how I keep from goin’ under …”

Earth vs The Flying Saucers premiered

July 1, 1956 –Columbia Pictures released the classic sci-fi movie, Earth vs The Flying Saucers, featuring special effects by Ray Harryhausen, on this date. The supposed satellite launches are actually stock footage of Viking rockets, high-altitude probes that were the predecessors of the Vanguard, intended to be the first satellite launcher. The later shots ofContinue reading “Earth vs The Flying Saucers premiered”

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes premiered

July 1, 1953 – The Howard Hawk musical comedy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe opened in Atlantic City on this date. This was Jane Russell’s only film with Marilyn Monroe. They got along well. According to Russell’s 1985 autobiography, she called Monroe “Blondie” and was often the only person on theContinue reading “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes premiered”

Canada – our neighbor to the North

As always, your friends from the ACME Corp would like to salute our friends in Canada on Canada Day. Canada is the second-largest nation in the world. It is not part of the United States – (it’s the U.S.‘ nicer sister, not dissing Mexico, the U.S.’ feistier sister.) A little jewel sitting at the topContinue reading “Canada – our neighbor to the North”

If you’re not barefoot, then you’re overdressed.

According to the Gregorian calendar, July is the seventh month. On the Roman calendar, it was the fifth month and it was called ‘Quintilis‘, meaning ‘fifth‘. Julius Caesar gave the month 31 days in 46 B.C. Being a dictator he could. Luckily for us he didn’t authorize the constant changing of underpants or most ofContinue reading “If you’re not barefoot, then you’re overdressed.”