Author Archives: dcaligari

February 21, 1947 –Edwin H. Land first demonstrated, the first instant camera, the Polaroid Land camera, during a meeting of the Optical Society of America (OSA) at the Hotel Pennsylvania, in New York City. The camera produces a black and white photograph in sixty seconds, using development and fixer chemicals sandwiched in pods with theContinue reading “Shake, shake”

February 21, 2008 – Paul Mawhinney’s collection of 3 million vinyl records, amassed over 40 years while he owned a record store in Pittsburgh, was sold on eBay for $3,002,150, on this date. The bid was a sham, it turned out to be an unsuspecting Irishman who said his account had been hacked. Mawhinney heldContinue reading “That’s a lot of vinyl”

February 21, 1967 –One Million Years B.C., starring Raquel Welch (R.I.P.,) her pre-historic brassière and a bunch of dinosaur puppets, premiered on this date. As I’ve mentioned in the past, folks going to the Creation Museum, this is NOT a documentary.

February 21, 1981 –Charles Rocket, first in the long line of performers on Saturday Night Live to drop the f-bomb, cursed live at the end of the episode in response to a question about how it felt being shot during a skit. (the clip from SNL is no longer available from NBC.) Due partially toContinue reading “The sad tale of Charlie Rocket”

The eleventh day of the Lunar New Year is known as the day to welcome Zigu Shen (the Purple Lady). According to legend, Zigu was a concubine of a rich man in ancient China. The wife of the rich man killed her in the toilet due to her jealousy. The Heavenly God had compassion forContinue reading “It always comes down to toilets”

February 20, 1988 –The Pet Shop Boys (featuring Dusty Springfield) song What Have I Done To Deserve This? climbed to No. #2 on the Billboard charts in America, on this date. The song marks Dusty Springfield first big hit since 1969. The song’s co-writer Allee Willis was later responsible for the Friends theme, I’ll BeContinue reading “What Have I Done To Deserve This? topped the charts”

February 20, 2009 – Conan O’Brien made his last appearance as host of Late Night, on this date. O’Brien, who succeeded David Letterman as the Late Night host in 1993, left the later timeslot to replace a reportedly retiring Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show. (Intead of retiring, Leno became host of aContinue reading “O’Brien’s finale on Late Night”

February 20, 2000 –The bio-pix TV movie Little Richard aired on NBC, with Leon in the title role, on this date. While Little Richard was still alive and well during production of Little Richard and served as one of the movie’s executive producers, he did not provide his own singing voice for his younger onscreenContinue reading “A Little Richard Bio-Pix premiered”

Today is the birthday of the god of stone. ACME Construction would like to wish everyone a lucky and prosperous Lunar New Year. On this day, it is forbidden to move any stone, including stone roller, stone mill and stone mortar, so this day is also known as “Shi Bu Dong”(meaning do not move anyContinue reading “Are you really still celebrating?”

Badfinger was a British pop band signed to the Beatles‘ label, Apple. One of their best songs was Without You which appeared on their second album No Dice. It was released as a single on November 9, 1970. Paul McCartney once described the ballad as “the killer song of all time“. Harry Nilsson started aContinue reading “Please follow along – (Sorry for this Earworm) –”