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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”

November 9, 1972 – The adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, 1776, starring William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, John Cullum, Ken Howard and Blythe Danner, opened in NYC on this date While it is generally accepted that John Hancock was the only one who signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, Sherman Edwards andContinue reading “The film 1776 premiered”

The English clothing store chain, Marks and Spencer released their annual holiday advert, (it seems to be early this year, but I always say that.) M & S has has been getting a lot of heat for their commercial this year. Folks, as they are want to do, are complaining about them showing celebrities destroyingContinue reading “It’s that time of the year”

Today is International Tongue Twister Day. (Or at least I think it is, there seems to be some controversy on the date.) Tongue twisters have technically been around since as early as the 19th century when John Harris published Peter Piper’s Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation, which included a twisty tongue tango forContinue reading “A happy hippo hopped and hiccupped.”

November 8, 1971 –Led Zeppelin released their untitled fourth album, on this date. And kids remember, according to the Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials Committee of the California State Assembly, if you play Stairway to Heaven backwards, you can hear: So, don’t play you albums backwards (many of you have no idea what albums are.)