Author Archives: dcaligari

November 11, 397 –St. Martin of Tours, another in the series of anorexic visionaries, patron saint of France, soldiers (he is known as the he man’s saint), reformed alcoholics and winemakers, died on this date. When the armistice fell on the Saint Martin’s Day, November 11, 1918, the French people saw it was a signContinue reading “Follow along: I promise it all ties together”

November 10, 1969 –Even at 54, everything’s still A-OK (even on HBO.) Sesame Street premiered on PBS-TV on this date.

November 10, 1990 –John Hughes’ classic holiday film, directed by Chris Columbus, Home Alone, starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, and Daniel Stern, opened in Chicago on this date. The picture Kevin finds of Buzz’s girlfriend was a picture of a boy made up to look like a girl, because director Chris Columbus thought it wouldContinue reading “Home Alone premiered”

November 10, 1967 –The Moody Blues released their hit, Nights in White Satin, on this date. This was written by Justin Hayward, who joined the band the previous year. He got the idea for the song after someone gave him a set of white satin sheets – yes, sometimes, it’s just that inane. This songContinue reading “The first time we heard about those unsent letters”

November 10, 1967 – The Star Trek episode Metamorphosis first aired on this date. In it, Kirk finds Zefram Cochrane, inventor of the warp drive, who has been missing for 150 years and his mysterious alien companion. A few scenes featuring Elinor Donahue had to be re-shot, because the original film negatives were damaged andContinue reading “Star Trek: Metamorphosis premiered”

I said before, I still don’t understand the concept of holiday long-form commercials in England. Aldi, another European supermarket chain, that is somehow related to Lidl but not really worth going into here, has featured Kevin the Carrot again. This year, he’s exploring William Conker’s Magical Christmas Factory, a knock off Willie Wonka factory –Continue reading “I’m confused (but that’s not a surprise)”

In Germany so many significant events in history have happened on November 9, that historians have called the date Schicksalstag (Fateful Day). It was the day that Robert Blum was executed in 1848, After Germany’s defeat in the First World War, the emperor Wilhelm II lost the support of the German army. He abdicated onContinue reading “Not the greatest day in Germany”

November 9, 1906 –Teddy Roosevelt went against more than a century of tradition and became the first American president ever to leave the country while in office, on this date. He went to view the construction site of the Panama Canal. Before Roosevelt, it was assumed that a President of the United States couldn’t overseeContinue reading “Bully, bully.”

November 9, 1973 –Billy Joel releases his second album, Piano Man, on this date. The album and title track (based on his nights performing at a piano bar in Los Angeles called The Executive Room,) became Joel’s breakthrough album, which he released after signing with Columbia Records. His first album was released by Family RecordsContinue reading “Piano Man first started singing its song”

November 9, 1946 – Another classic, yet surprisingly controversial Bugs Bunny outing, Rhapsody Rabbit, premiered on this date (We’ll talk about the controversy later.) Franz Liszt’s 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody music was first used in 1941’s Rhapsody in Rivets. A long-standing controversy exists between the previous cartoon and the Tom and Jerry short, The Cat Concerto.Continue reading “Nothing is original”